HISTORY OF INDIA.
Jfrom l^e Earliest S^tmts to i\t ^rtsfnt gaj.
L. J. TROTTER,
Author of '^Studies tn Biography" *' ^ Sequel to Thornton's HUtory
of India" ^c.
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PREFACE.
The following pages were written at the request of
the Society whose name appears on the title page.
Within the space allowed him the Author has done
his best to give such an outline of Indian history as
might serve to interest that large class of readers
which lacks time, means, or will, for the study of
larger works on the same theme. In beginning, as it
were, from the very outset, he has sought to fix the
reader's attention to the successive stages leading
from the first Aryap settlements in India, up to the
final conquest of the whole country by another people
of Aryan race. It is weU for many reasons that
Englishmen should understand how much the nations
of the West have in common with the dark-skinned
children of their common forefathers. Nor is the
wondrous tale of English conquests in India a thing
to be studied apart from its connection with the
previous conquests of the Mohammadans. and the
great fight for empire between the countrymen of
Sivaji and the Moghals.
IV HISTORY OP IKDIA.
In tracing, however rapidly, the history of so many
centuries, the Author has availed himself of all the
latest sources of information, many of which are
pointed out in the footnotes. In no part of the book
has he been content to follow slavishly in the wake of
former historians and essayists. His treatment of
Warren Hastings, for example, and his friend Sir
Ehjah Inipey, however different from the picture
drawn by Macaulay, is amply wan-anted by a careful
study of documents which that gi-eat writer misread
or overlooked. Throughout the volume he has striven
to combine accuracy of fit detail with due breadth of
handling and a clear, readable style; to give due
prominence to leading events and characters, and to
avoid the faults of a mere partisan. How far he has
succeeded in any of these aims, the more critical of
his readers must be left to judge for themselves,
remembering only to make fair allowance for the mis-
takes which they are almosi certain to find here and
there in a work that deals with so many centuries of
stirring life.
Of the illustrations contributed by Mr. W. J.
\Miymper, the Author trusts that his readers will
endorse the good opinion formed by himself. They
have all been carefully copied from truthful photo-
giaphs, for the loan of many of which the artist was
indebted to the kindness of Dr. Forbes Watson at the
India Oflice. The map which accompanies the volume
has been compiled expressly for it by Messrs. Stanford.
With regard to the vexed question of spelling
Indian names, the Author has mainly followed the
scientific system of Jones, Wilson, and Dr. Hunter ;
a system already at work in many branches of the
Indian pubUc service, and which must in time super-
sede the rough, haphazard methods of spelling words
according to their nearest English sounds. The new
plan, which has not indeed been applied to such old
familiar names as Calcutta, Cawnpore, Bombay, has
at least the merit of uniformity ; while it does repre-
sent, as exactly as one alphabet can represent another,
the very sounds and letters of the Hindustani words.
It will be seen from the following simple rules how
many of the Indian vowel and consonant sounds
correspond with those in our own and other Teutonic
tongues.
Vowels — a broad as in "father": a short as in
"America," or u in "butter," or o in
" son."
e as in " thei'e," or as o in " pate," or c in
"beU."
i long as in "pique" or "machine": i short
as in " bit."
6 long as in " tone," or shorter as in
" obey."
ii long as in "mde" or oo in " fool ': u short
full," "put."
ai as in German " Kaiser," or EngUsh
" aisle."
au as in German " haus," or the on- in
EngUsh " cow."
VI UIHTOKY OK INPIA.
Consonants — g always hard, as in "give."
s hard, as in " sin."
ch always as in " church," " chin."
gh and kh guttural, as in Irish " Lough,"
and Scot "loch," or English " log-
hut " and " inkhoru."
th and ph as in " hot-houso " and " up-
hill."
y always as in " yet," " young."
w as in " war."
The remaining consonants ai"e sounded as in
English, save that n final is sometimes nasal, as in
French " bon."
Some of the names which recur oftenest in these
pages, such as Rajput, Panjdb, Khan, GujanH, are
occasionally printed without the vowel points.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
Geographical sketch of India — Total area of India — Its length
and breadth— The Himalayas — Eastern and Western bound-
aries— Length of seaboard and land-frontier — The Him^ayan
rivers — The Vindhya and Satpura Ranges — The Aravalli Hills
— The Ghats or Stairs of Southern India — The Nflgiris or Bine
Mountains — Rivers of Southern India — Harbours — Lakes —
Desert tracts — Traces of former submergence — Volcanic agency
— The forest trees of India — Their various uses — The crops —
Fruits and vegetables — Flowers — Animals, wild and tame —
Indian birds — Minerals — Precious stones — Gold and stiver —
Lead — Tin — Antimony and copper — Petroleum — Salt — Build-
ing stones — Iron ores — Coal — Population of India — Popu-
lation of Bengal — The North-Western Provinces — Audh —
The Panjab — British Burmah — Madras — Maisdr and Knrg —
Bombay and Sindh — Central Provinces — Ber^r — The Native
States — Proportion of Hindus to Mussulmans — Sikhs and Budd-
hists— Aboriginal races — Jains — P^rsis — Christians — Varieties
of climate — Rainfall — Hot winds — The cold weather — Lan-
guages of India; — The Aryan — The Dravidian — The Mongolic
— Arabic and Persian infusions xlv
HlSTOr.V OF INDIA.
BOOK I.
INDL\ BEFORE THE JIOHAMilADAN CONQUESJ.
CHAPTER I.
THE ARYAN HINDUS.
Peculiar character of British rule in India — The Hindu Vedas —
Poetic origin of the Hindu religion — Later developtaents of
the old faith— Rise of Buddhism — Siikya Muni, born about
GOO B.C. — His career as a Hindu reformer — Buddhist doctrine
— Progress of Buddhism — Its later developments — Its decline
in India — The Brahmanic reaction — The code of Manu, about
900 B.C. — Indian village communities — Caste in India — The
Brahmans — Their exclusive privileges — The Kshatriyas — The
Taisyas — The Sudras — Later development of caste — Caste
tendencies in other countries
CHAPTER II.
BRAH5IANISM RE- ASCENDENT.
The Purdnas, about 900 A.D. — Vishnu and his Avatars — Vishnu as
Rama and Krishna — Worship of Siva — Worship of Durga and
other gods — Later Hindu pects — Sankara Acharya — Tukaram
born near Piina towards the end of sixteenth century — Nanak
Shah born A.D. 1469, died A.D. 1540— Giiru Govind— The
Brahma Samaj 1^
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER in.
EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA.
FirBt Aiyan settlement in India — Aryan progress southwards —
Aryan dynasties in Upper India — The great war of Hindu
legend — The story of Rama — Unhistoric character of the
Ramayan — Aryan kings of Southern India — The Sah dynasty
in Sauia?htra — The Giipta princes — Vikram Aditya, about B.C.
66 — Kalidasa. about 50 B.C. — The Dravidian races — Successive
invasions of Kashmir — Eastern Bengal — The Tavans — Ob-
Bcurity of old Indian history — The legend of Semiramis —
Eamses II. — Invasion of Western India by Darius Hystaspes,
about ."120 B.C. — Alexander the Great invades the Panjab, B.C.
327 — His arrival at the Indus — His alliance with Taxiles —
Defeat of Poms on the Jhilam — Alexander's further progress
— His return from the Satlaj — His voyage down the Indus —
His return to Susa — Alexander's death, B.C. 323 — Results of
Alexander's enterprise — King Chandragiipta founds the Mau-
ryan dynasty — His treaty with Seleucus, 305 B.C. — King
Asoka's beneficent reign, 280 B.C. — His conversion to Budd-
hism— The Sanga dynasty, 195 B.C. — The Andhra dynasty,
about 100 B.C. — Embassies from India to CiEsar Augustus —
The first Christian mission to Southern India — Progress of the
native Christians — A Christian Rajah in Malabar — Temporary
triumph of Archbishop Menezes over the Syrian Christians —
The Bactrian kingdom — Demetrius, B.C. 190 — Eucratides, B.C.
181 — Henander, B.C. 126 — Testimony of Indo-Bactrian coins.
CHAPTER rv.
CITLLISATION OF ABYAN INDIA.
Intellectual and moral progress of the Hindus — Hindu astronomy
— Aryabhata, about 500 A.D. — Bhaskai'-acharya, about 115 A.D.
— Hindu algebra and arithmetic — Hindu medicine and che-
mistry— Hindu law — Grammar — Hindu literature — Absence
of the historic spirit — Sculpture and architecture — Water-
works in Southern India — Indian steel — The city of Ayodhya
as described by Talmiki 35
HI8T0EY OF INDIA.
BOOK II.
THE MOHAMMADAN PERIOD.
CHAPTER I. V
EARLY MOHAMMADAN CONQUESTS.
Persian invasion of Snrat, a.d. 560 — First invasion of Sindh,
A.D. 664 — Invasion of Sindh by Mohammad E^im, A.D. 711
— Death of the Rajah and his Qneen — Kdsim invades Gujarat
— Defeated by the Raj puts of Chitdr and driven out of TTestem
India — Mahmud of Khorfsan driven back by the Rajah of
Chit<5r, A.D. 812 — The Samanid dynasty of Bokhara, A.D. 913
— Alptagin founds the kingdom of Ghazni, about A.D. 962 —
Succeeded by Sabaktagin, A.D. 976 — Sabaktagin grants terms
to the King of Lahdr— Jaipal breaks his pledge — Rout of his
army at Laghman — Mahmud ot Ghazni, a.d. 997 — Defeat and
death of Jaipal, A.D. 1001 — Anandpal succeeds him — Bhatm'r
conquered, A.D. 1003 — Multdn reconquered, A.D. 1005 — Great
defeat of the Hindus near Peshawar, A.D. 1008 — Thane'sar plun-
dered, A.D. 1011— Sack of Mattra, A.D. 1017 — Sack of Lahdr,
A.D. 1021— Capture of Somndth, A.D. 1024 — Revolt of the
Hindu princes, A.D. 1043 — The Ghaznavid princes driven out
of Kibul. A.D. 1156 — Capture of Lahdr by Mohammad Ghori,
A.D. 1186 — Defeat of Mohammad, A.D. 1191 — Mohammad's
revenge, A.D. 1193 — First fruits of Mohammad's victory — Con-
quest of Kanauj and Banuras, A.D. 1194 — Rhator emigration
to Marwar — Conquest of Bahar and Bengal by Kutab-ud-din,
A.D. 1203 — Gaur the seat of Mohammadan rule in Bengal —
Mobammadan architecture in India — Altamsh, A.D. 1210 —
Conquest of Malwa, A.D. 1226 — Chingiz Khan invades Kha-
rizm and Kabul, A.D. 1217 — Rizia Begam, A D. 1236 — Xazir-
nd-din Mahmud, A.D. 1246 to 1266 — Ghiyas-ud-din Balban, a.d.
1266 to 1286— Revolt in Bengal, 1279 43
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER 11.
THE KHIUI DYNASTY OF DEHLI, A.D. 1288-1321.
.Talal-ud-din Khilji founds a new dynasty, A.D. 1288 — First invasion
of the Dakhan, A.D. 1294 — Death of Jalal-nd-din, A.D. 1295—
Ala-ud-din, a.d. 1296 — Gujarft reconquered, 1297— Moghal
invasion, A.D. 1298 — Second Moghal inroad, A.D. 1303 — Fresh
inroads and utter rout of the Moghals, A.D. 1306 — Deogarh
again reduced to submission, A.D. 1306 — Eafiir invades Wa-
rangiil, A.D. 1309 — The Eajah of 'Warangul surrenders his
chief stronghold — Invasion of the Camatic, A.D. 1310 — The
Dakhan again invaded, A.D. 1312 — ifassacre of Moghal con-
verts— Character and public acts of Ala-ud-din — Oppression of
the nobles — Sufferings of the Hindus — Interference with the
markets — The prosperous outset of his reign — A change for
the worse, A.D. 1312 to 1316 — Plots and revolts — Chitdr once
more free, A.D. 1315— Death of Ala-ud-din, A.D. 1316— Kafiir's
successful treachery— His death, January, 1317 — Kutab-nd-din.
A.D. 1317 — Gujarat and Maharashtra reconquered, A.D. 1318
— Khusru invades the Camatic — Murder of Kutab-ud-din —
Death of Khusru, A.D. 1321 50
CHAPTER m.
THE TOGHLAK, S.AIYID, AND LODI DYNASTIES,
A.D. 1321—1414.
Ghiyas-ud-din-Toghlak I., 1321 — Character of his government — Re-
capture of Warangul and conquest of Telingana, A.D. 1323 —
Toghlak's march into Bengal, 1324 — His death — Mohammad
Toghlak, A.D. 1325 — His general character — He keeps off a
Moghal invasion— His successes in Southern India — His futile
scheme for conquering Persia about 1332 — Invasion of China,
A.D. 1337, and utter destruction of the Sultan's army — The
king's heavy exactions — His forced copper currency — Revolt
of Miiltan. Bengal, and the Dakhan — Cruel slaughter in the
Doab — Massacre at Kanauj — Risings in Labor and Malabar
— Outbreak of cholera at Warangul — The king's retreat to
Deogarh — Forced emigration from Dehli to Daulatabad, A.D.
1.340 — Its ultimate failure — 111 effects of Mohammad's policy^
Rising in Gujarat, A.D. 1346 — Revolt in Maharashtra, A.D. 1347
— Fresh rising in Gujarat — Independent Bahmani dynasty in
HISTORY OF INDIA.
the Bakb.'m, A.D. 1348 — Mohammad marches into Sindh — His
death, A.D. 1350 — State of the empire at his death — Death of
Mohammad, 1351 — Firoz Shah tries to recover Bengal, A.D.
1353, but fails — His expedition into Sindh — His character as
a ruler — His treatment of the Hindus — His splendid public
works — Irrigation works in Upper India — Abdication of Firoz
in favour of his son, A.D. 1387 — Expulsion of N£zir-ud-din,
1388 — Accession of Ghiyas-ud-din and death of Firoz Shah,
October, 1388 — Intestine troubles in Dehli — Ghiyas-ud-din re-
stored, A.D. 1390— Mahmud Toghlak, A.D. 1394— Gujartit,
Mdlwa, Khande'sh, and Jannpiir become independent — Timur's
invasion of Hindustan, A.D. 1398 — Timur massacres his pri-
soners— Defeat and flight of Mahmud — Massacres in Dehli —
Capture of Mirat — Timur recrosses the Indus — Return of
Mahmud to Dehli, A.D. 1400 — Death of Toghlak, A.D. 1412—
Khizr Khan founds the Saiyid dynasty, A.D. 1414 — Accession of
Mobarak, A.D. 1421 — Saiyid Mohammad, 1435 — Saiyid Ala-ud-
din, 1445 — House of Lodi founded by Belol Lodi, A.D. 1450 —
Belol's character — Extent of his kingdom — Jaunpur recon-
quered, A.D. 1478 — Sikandar Lodi, A.D. 1488 — Persecution of
Hindus — Ibrahim Lodi, A.D. 1516 — Daulat Khan Lodi invites
Babar into Hindustan — Bdbar's early history — He becomes
master of Kabul, A.D. 1504 — Babar invades the Panjab, A.D.
1519 — He marches into Sirhind, A.D. 1524 — Ala-ud-din defeated
by Ibrahim, 1525^B^bar's march to Panipat, A.D. 1526 —
Battle of Panipat — Eout of the Dehli troops and death of
Ibrahim, 21st April, 1526 65
CHAPTER IV.
CONTEMPORARY INDIAN DYNASTIES.
Progress of Kashmir — Shams-ud-din, first Mohammadan king of
Kashmir, A.D. 1326— Shadi Khan or Zain-ul-abidin, A.D. 1422
to 1472 — Mohammad, 1486 to 1535 — The Panjab governed by
Timur's lieutenant, Khizr Khan, A.D. 1400 — Reannexed to the
kingdom of Dehli — Miiltdn — The Langa dynasty, A.D. 1445
— Sindh under the Sume'ra dyn.osty, A.D. 750 — The Jam
dynasty, A.D. 1225 — The Arghiin dynasty, A.D. 1520 — History
of Gujanit— The Chaura dynasty, A.D. 524— The Salonka
dynasty, A.D. 93 1 — The Waghila dynasty, 1228 — Gujarat finally
conquered by Ala-ud-din Khilji, 1297 — Mozaffar Shah founds
CONTENTS. XUl
the Mohammadan kingdom of Gujarat, 1391 — Ahmad Shah,
1411 — Reduction of Katiawar — Mahmud Shah, 1459 to 1511
— Success of his admiral, Aiaz, against the Portuguese, 1508 —
Bahddur Shah, 1527 — Conquest of Malwa, 1531 — Previous his-
tory of Mdlwa — Hindu kings of Malwa — Mohammadan king-
dom of Malwa founded by DiWwar Khan Ghori, 1401 — Siege
of Dehli by Mahmud I. — Mahmud II., 1512 — Taken prisoner
by the Rajah of Chitor — Malwa annexed by Bahadur Shah,
1531 — History of Khandesh — Malik, Rajah of Ehandesh, 1370
— Nasir Khan, 1 399 — Capture of Asirgarh — Founding of Bur-
hanpur — Adil Khan, 1459 — Bengal under Fakr-ud-din, and his
successes, 1338 — Rajah Kh^ns, 1386 — Jit Mai, or Jalal-ud-din,
1392— Ala-ud-din, 1497 — Shir Shah, 137— History of Rdjputana
— The Rajahs of Udaipur — Rahtor emigration to Marwdr, 1195
— Character of the Rajputs — Nizam Shah, 1461— Mohammad
Shah, 1463 — Capture of Kanchi and conquest of the Kankan —
Death of Mahmud Gawan, 1481 — Death of Mohammad Shah,
1482 — Dismemberment of the Bahmani State, 1489 — TuBuf
Adil Shah established in Bijapur, 1489 — Ahmadnagar founded
by Nizfim Shah, 1489 — A Brahman made prime minister —
Imdd Shah founds adynastyin Berar, 1484 to 1572 — TheKutab-
Shahi dynasty of Golkonda, 1512 to 1687 — Mohammad Kuli,
1580— The Barid Shahi dynasty of Bidar, 1489 to 1656— Early
history of Orissa — Yavan settlements in Orissa, B.C. — Spread
of Buddhism in Orissa from about 300 B.C. — The last Tavan
dynasty, A.D. 323 to 473 — The Ke'sari dynasty, A.D. 473 to 1132
— Orissa first invaded by the Pathilns, A.D. 1243 — Krishna
Rayah, 1509 — Afghan conquest of Orissa, 1567 — Orissa con-
quered by Akbar, 1578 — Kingdom of Bijayanagar, 1347 —
Krishna Rayah, 1509 to 1524 — Mohammadan league against
Bijayanagar, 1567 — Battle of Talikot and rout of the Hindus
— Downfall of Bijayanagar 80
CHAPTER V.
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA.
Prince Henry of Portugal turns his thoughts towai'ds India, A.D.
1415 — Cape of Good Hope rounded by Diaz, A.D. 1486 — Ta.soo
da Gama anchors off Calicut, 1498 — Intrigues of the Moors —
Cabral at Calicut and Cochin — Juan de Nueva defeats the
Zamorin's fleet, a.d. 1501 — Vasco da Gama's second expedi-
tion, A.D. 1502 — Albuquerque defeats the Zamorin, A.P, 1503
? HISTORY OK INDIA,
— Victories of Pacheco and Soarez, a.d. 1503 — Defeat of the
Portuguese at Chaul, a.d. 1508 — Alfonso Albuquerque,Viceroy
of Portuguese India, a.d. 1608 to 1515 — His maritime successes
— His supersession and death — Siqu^ra retreats from Diu, a.d.
1521 — Goa besieged by the Mohammadans, 1522 — Destruction
of the Gujarat fleet, 1527 — The Portuguese again defeated be-
fore Diu, A.D. 1531 — A Portuguese settlement at Diu, about
A.D. 1534 — Siege of Diu by the Turks and Egyptians, a.d. 1537
— Final defeat of the besiegers, a.d. 1538 — Portuguese India
to the end of the sixteenth century — Diu twice besieged by
Mahmud Shah — Culmination of the Portuguese power — Suc-
cessful defence of Goa, a.d. 1570 — Unsuccessful attacks en
Chaul and Ch^ — Appearance of the Dutch and English in the
Eastern seas— Decline of the Portuguese power 92
CONTENTS. XV
BOOK III.
THE MOGHAL DYNASTY OF BABAE.
CHAPTER I.
bIbak and humXyun, 1526 — 1556.
Progress of Babar, a.d. 1526— Battle of Sikri, and defeat of Rana
Sanga, a.d. 1527 — Defeat of Mahmud Lodi— Capture of Chan-
de'ri and death of Medni Rai, A.D. 1528— Conquest of Audh and
Bahar, 1528 to 1529— Babar's failing health— His death, A.D.
1530 — His character — Humayun, A.D. 1530 — Revolts in Bun-
dalkhand, Jaunpur, and Bahdr, 1630-32— The King of Gujarat
defeated and driven to Diu, 1533— Daring capture of Ch^m-
pane'r— Capture of Chunar, A.D. 1538— Rout of Humayun's
army near Baxir, A.D. June 1539 — Humayun again defeated
at Kanauj, May, 1540— Shir Shah estabUshed at Dehli, A.D.
1540-45 — Flight and wanderings of Humayun — Shir Shah's
successes — Shir Shah succeeded by SeUm Shah, a.d. 1545 —
Mohammad Shah, a.d. 1553 — Humayun in exile, A.D. 1540 —
Birth of Akbar, A.D. 1542— Humayun finds shelter in Herat,
1544 — Humayun reconquers Kabul, A.D. 1545-47 — Humayun at
length established in Kabul, A.D. 1551 — Kamran taken and
blinded, A.D. 1553 — Humayun's return to Dehli, A.D. 1555 —
Hisdeath, A.D. 1556 99
CHAPTER n.
JALAL-UD-DIN AKBAR, 1556 — 1605.
Accession of Akbar, A.D. 1556 — Battle of Panipat, A.D. 1556, and
death of He'mu — Behram's government of Dehli, A.D. 1556-59 —
Behram's dismissal, a.d. 1560 — His fruitless revolt and kind
1 HISTOKY OF INDIA.
reception by Akbar — Ilia death — Akbar's task — Akbar's early
conquests — Troubles in M;ilwa — Progress of the Uzbek revolt,
15G2 — Suppression of the Uzbek revolt, A.D. 1567 — Capture of
Chit<5r, March, IfifiH — Self-devotion of the Rijpnt garrison —
Akbar's relations with Riijput princes — Akbar inGujariit, A.D.
1672 — His boldness and narrow escape — Akbar's sudden march
to Ahmaddbiid, July, 1573 — Rout of the rebels, and final sup-
pres.«ion of the revolt — Akbar's progress in Bengal, A.D. 157.5
— Datid Khan's revolt and death, A.D. 1576 — Final conquest of
Bengal, A.D. 1580 — Subjection of Orlssa, A.D. 1592 — Mima
Hakim invades the Panjjfb, A.D. 1584 — Is taken back into
Akbar's favour — Mozaffar Shah's revolt in Gujardt, A.D. 1581
— His capture and death, A.D. 1593 — Akbar'n conquest of
Kashmir, A.D. I.'i87 — Moghal disasters in the Tusufzai Hills,
A.D. 1586— Annexation of Kandahdr, A.D. 1594— Sindh, 1592
— Siege of Ahmadnagar by the Moghals, A.D. 1596 — Surrender
of B^rdr to Prince Morad — League of the Dakhani princes
against Akbar — Battle of Sonpat, January, 1597 — Second siege
of Ahmadnagar — Khdndesh conquered by the Moghals, 1601
— Akbar recalled to Agra by his son's misconduct, 1602 — Mur-
der of Abul Fazl — Akbar reconciled to Selim, A.D. 160.3 —
Akbar's illness — Last hours and death of Akbar, October 13th,
1605 — Akbar's religious tolerance — His legislation on religious
subjects — Removal of Hindu disabilities^Repression of sla-
very— Introduction of a new era instead of the Hijra — Atbar's
war against beards — His ste.ady patronage of Hindus — Akbar
as a peaceful administrator — Settlement of the land revenue
under Todar Mai — Reforms in the police and public justice —
Reforms in the army — Akbar's public works — Extension of the
canal system — Personal details regarding Akbar 107
CHAPTEE III.
JAHANGIR, 1605—1627.
Accession of Jahdngir, a.d. 1605 — His first acts — Khusm's rebel-
lion, A.D. 1 606 — JahdngiVs cruel revenge on Khusru's followers
— Udaipur reduced to submission by Shah Jaha'n, A.D. 1611 —
Malik Ambar brought to terms, 1617 — His final submission to
Shah Jahdn, 1621 — Early history of Niir-Jahan — Her marriage
to Shir Afgan — Her husband's death — Niir-Jahdn's marriage
to the Emperor, a.d. IGll — Her great influence at Court
— Niir-Jahdn's change of purpose towards Shah Jahan,
A.D. 1621 — Result of her intrigues — Rebellion of Shah Jahdn,
CONTENTS. XVll
A.D. 1623 — His advance into Bengal, a.d. 1G24 — His retreat
and final submission, 1625 — Niir-Jahdn'g intrignes against
Mohdbat Khiin — J ahangi'r captured by Mohabat Khdn, March,
l6;iG — Jahangir finally rescued by his Empress, A.D. 1627 —
Death of Prince Parvis — Mohdbat Kh^n joins Shiih Jahan
— Death of Jahangir, October, 1G27 — Messrs. Fitch and New-
bery's visit to the Court of Akbar, 1587 — Captain Lancaster's
first voyage, 1591 — Foundation of the East India Company,
December, IGOO — Their first ventures — Mission of Captain
Hawkins, 1607 — Hawkins received at the Emperor's Court,
1609 — His partial success and ultimate failure — Defeat of the
Portuguese off Surat by Captain Best, a.d. 1612 — Surat finally
opened to English trade, 1613 — Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe
to the Great Moghal, a.d. 1615 — New rights conceded to the
East India Company by the Emperor, 1617 — Massacre of
Amboyna, 1G23 — The Company's first fortified factory at
Aimegaun, 1625— Founding of Madras, 1639 121
CHAPTER IV.
SHAH JAHAN, 1628 1658.
Accession of Shah Jahin, January, 1628 — His splendid tastes —
Revolt of Khdn Jahan Lodi, 1629 — His alliance with Ahmad-
nagar — Death of Kh^ Jahan, 1630 — Renewal of the war in
the Dakhan — Bijapur and Shahji take up arms against the
Moghal — Submission of Bijapur, 1636 — Shahji makes peace —
Capture of the Portuguese fort at Hiighli, 1632— Recovery of
Kandahdr, 1637 — Its recapture by the Persians, 1647 — Con-
quest of Balkh, 1645 — Balkh abandoned to its former master
— The Empire at peace, 1653-55 — Shah Jahan's magnificence —
State of the Empire — Rebuilding of Dehli— The Taj Mahal at
Agra — The Peacock Throne at Dehli — Renewal of war in the
Dakhan, 1656 — <3olkonda invaded by Aurangzib, 1656 — The
King's submission — Death of Mahmud AdU Shah of Bijipdr,
1656 — Aurangzib invades Bijapur, 1657 — The doom of Bij^piir
averted for a time by Shah Jahan's illness — Shah Jahdn's
four sons fight for empire, 1658 — Prince Dfira — Aurangzib —
Shuj£i — Mor^d — Aurangzib makes use of Morad — Defeat of
Shuja — Ddra twice defeated by Aurangzib — Dethronement of
Shah Jahan by Aurangzib, August 20th, 1658— Progress of
the East India Company — Factory at Pipli, 1634 — Factories at
Hughli and Balasdr — Formation of a rival company, 1634 —
The two companies coalesce, 1656 — Surat and Madras made
into Presidencies 129
b
XV-lll HISTORY OF INDIA.
CHAPTER V.
aurangzi'b, 1658 — 1707.
Pursuit of Dara — Shtijit defeated by Aurangzi'b, January 3rd,
1659— Sliuja's flight into Arakan, 1660 — Dara's defeat and
flight into Gujardt, 1659 — Dara's capture, trial, and execution
— Suspicious death of Aurangzib's nephews, 1661 — Murder of
Mordd, 1662 — Mir Jumla's failure in Assam — His death, 1663
— Aurangzib's dangerous illness, 1663 — His success in baffling
the intrigues of his enemies — Rise of the Maratha power —
Mdloji Bhdsla — Marriage of his son, Shdhji Bhdsla, to the
daughter of Jadu Rao — Birth of Sivaji, May, 1627 — His
boyhood at Puna — His first enterprises — Sivaji captures the
fort of Toma, 1646 — He conquers part of the Kankan, 1648 —
Shilhji imprisoned at Bijdpiir, 1640, on his son's account — His
final release, and the renewal of his son's raids, 1653 — SiVajfs
character and methods of attack — Sivaji's conquests in the
Western Gh^ts, 1655 — His renewed assaults on Bijiipiir, 1658
— Murder of Afzul Khan and defeat of his troops by Sivaji,
1659 — Si'vajTs escape from Panala, 16G0 — He makes peace
with Bijapur, 1662 — Extent of his conquests — Sivaji at war
with the Moghals, 1663— Plunders Surat, 1664— Death of
Shahji, 1664 — Sivajfs naval exploitb — Sack of Barsaldr, 1665
— Sivaji makes peace with the Moghals — Aurangzi'b invites
Sivaji to Dehli, 1666 — His contemptuous treatment of Sivaji
— Sivaji's escape from Dehli, 1666 — Prosperity of the Empire
at this time — The Emperor's ill success against Bijapur —
Si'vaji again makes peace with Aurangzi'b, 1667 — Levies tribute
from Bijapur and Golkonda — Sivaji's success as a ruler, 1668,
1669 — The Emperor breaks the peace, 1670 — Sivajfa successes
— The chauth levied in Khandesh — Sivaji defeats the Moghals
in the open field, 1672 — End of the war with the Afghan
mountaineers, 1675 — Revolt of the Satnaramis quelled, 1675 —
Auraugzib's harsh treatment of the Hindus — The Jiziya
re-imposed, 1667— Revolt of the Rajputs, 1678— The Ritna of
Mewar makes peace, 1679 — Renewal of the war, 1679 — Peace
accepted by the Rajputs, 1681 — Their lasting estrangement
from the Empire — Sivajfs progress in the Kankan, 1673 — He
is crowned at Raigarh, 1674 — His raids into Moghal territory,
1675 — His march through Southern India, 1677, 1678 — He
helps Bijapur against; the Moghals, 1679 — Death of Sivaji,
oth April, 1680 135
CONTENTS. Xix
CHAPTER VI.
AUKANGziB — {continued).
Sambaji succeeds his father — His early proceedings — Sambaji's
repulse from Jinje'ra, 1682 — Aurangzib invades the Dakhan,
1683 — Jloghal invasion of the Eankan, 1684 — Prince Azim'a
retreat from Bijapiir, 1684 — SambajTs successful raids against
the Moghals, 1685, 1686 — C!onquest of Bijapiir by Aurangzib,
October, 1G86 — Death of the last King of Bijdpiir, 1689 — Fall
of Golkonda, 1687 — Aorangzib'e progress in Southern India,
1688 — Capture and cruel death of Sambaji, 1689 — Results of
Moghal ascendancy in the south — Rajah Ram upholds the
Maratha cause at Jinji, 1690 — Tactics of the Marathas —
Capture of Jinji, 1698 — Progress of Rajah Ram — His death,
1700 — Tara Bhai, Regent of the Marathas — Aurangzib's diffi-
culties—Rising of the Jatsat Bhartpur — Aurangzib's disastrous
retreat before the Marathas, 1706^ — Death of Aurangzib, 2lBt
February, 1707 — His character — His administrative abUitiea —
His suspicious nature — His crooked policy — His religious
earnestness, and its results — Charles II. grants the East India
Company a new charter, 1661 — Bombay transferred from
Portugal to England, 1662 — Its final cession to the East India
Company, 1668 — The seat of the Company's rule transferred
from Surat to Bombay, 1685 — Progress of the Company's
trade, 1686 — The English in Bengal — An English fleet enters
theHtighli, 1686 — Fighting at Hiighli — Job Charnock retreats
to Chatanatti, December, 1686 — English losses from disease
at Hijah, 1687 — Charnock again leaves Chatanatti — Bengal
abandoned, 1G88 — The Company's aggressive policy in Western
India, 1686 — Moghal reprisals — Aurangzib makes peace with
the English, 11190 — Chamock's return to Chatanatti^— Death of
Charnock, 1692 — The site of Calcutta granted to the Company,
1695 — Calcutta fortified, 1700 — Amalgamation of rival com-
panies, 1702 — Fort William erected into a Presidency, 1707 ... 144
CHAPTER Vn.
SUCCESSORS OF AURANGZIB, 1707 1740.
Piince Azim claims the Moghal throne, 1707 — His defeat and
death, .Tune, 1707 — Defeat and death of Prince Kambaksh,
February, 1708 — Moazzim Emperor, as Bahadur Shah — Saho,
son of Sambaji, releiised by Prince Azim, 1707 — Drives his
rivals out of Satdra, 1708 — Concludes a treaty with the
Moghals, 1709 — Bahadur Shah makes peace with Marwar and
62
U HISTORY OF INDIA.
Jaipur, 1709 — Progress of the Sikhs — Sikh ontbreak nnJer
Gnra Govind, 1G75 — His eiUe and death — Sirhind invaded by
the Sikhs under Bandu, 170D — Bahadur Shah drives the Sikhs
back into the hills, 1711 — Death of Bahadur Shah, February,
1712 — Accession of Jahandar Shah, May, 1712 — Murder of the
Emperor by Farokhsir, who succeeds him, February, 1713 —
Murder of Zulfikar Khan — Farokhsir plots against the Saiyids
— Hose'a Ali, Viceroy of the Dakhan, 1715 — The Viceroy
makes peace with the Marathas, 1717 — Another rising of the
Sikhs — Their utter defeat — Cruel death of Bandu himself,
1716 — Farokhsir renews his plots against the Saiyids — Hos<?n
Ali marches to Dehli, 1718 — Deposition and death of Farokh-
sir, February, 1719 — Accession of Mohammad Shah, Septem-
ber, 1719 — His progress in the Dakhan, 1720 — Death of Hosen
Ali — Chin Kilich, Vizier at Dehli, 1722 — Suppresses a revolt
in Gujarat — Chin Kilich retires to the Dakhan, 1723 — Defeat
of his rival Mobariz Khan, 1724 — Haidarabad becomes his
capital — Conquest of Ajmir by Aji't Singh of Marwar, 1721—
The Jats of Bhartpiir subdued by Rajah Jai Singh, 1723 —
Progress of the Mardthas under Bajf Rao, 1720 — Invasion of
Malwa and Gujarat, 1724-25 — Saho's successes against his
rival Samba, 1729 — Pilaji Gaikwar, Regent of Gujarat, 1731 —
Rise of Holkar and Sindia — Compact between Chin Kilich
Khan and Baji Rao, 1731 — The Moghala are driven out of
Gujarat, 1732 — Baji Rao becomes master of Malwa, 1734, and
of Jansi — Chin Kdich and Sadat Khan join to defend the
Empire, 173G — Baji Rao threatens Dehli, 1737 — Chiu Kilich
attacked by the Marathas near Bopal, 1738 — Chin Kilich
surrenders Mahva and other territory to Baji Rao, 1738 —
Mahmud the Khiiji conquers Persia, 1722 — Rise of Nadir
Shah — Nadir recovers Persia for Tahmasp — Nadir ascends the
Persian throne, 1736 — Nadir Shah invades Hindustan, Novem-
ber, 1738 — Defeat of the Moghals near Karnal, February, 1739
— Nddir's entrance into Dehli, March, 1739 — Bloody riot in
the city, avenged by the massacre of the citizens — Nadir's
extortions — Death of Sadat Khan — Death of Bdji Rao, 1740
— Chimnaji defeats the Portuguese in the Kankan, 1739 —
Lingering warfare of the Marathas with Angria — Baji Rao's
failure against Nasir Jang 154
CH^VPTER "\T:II.
THE MOGHAL EMPIRE TO THE BATTLE OF pXnIPAT,
1740—1761.
State of the Moghal Empire after Nadir's departure — Malwa ceded
by imperial grant to Balaji, 1741 — Raguji again enters Bengal
CONTENTS. XXl
— llis general murdeieJ by Alivardi Khan, 1745 — RagujCs
winnings, 1751 — Chfn Kilich suppresses his son's revolt — The
Maritthas in the Camatic — Their compromise with Nizdm-ol-
Mulk, 174C— Death of Chin Kilich, June, 1748— Death of
Mohammad Shah, April, 1748 — His defeat of the Eohilla
Afghans, 1745 — Ahmad Khan, the Abdali, crowned at Kanda-
hsir, 1747 — His invasion of India, 1748 — His bloody repulse
near Sirhind, March, 1748 — Ahmad Shah Emperor, April,
1748_The RohiUaa again defeated, 1751— Ahmad Shah, the
Durdni, conquers the Panjab, 1752 — Chauth levied in Rohil-
khand, 1752 — Civil strife in Dehli — Safdar Jang retreats
into Audh, 1753 — Ahmad Shah blinded and deposed, July,
1754, by Ghiizi-ud-din the younger — Progress of the Ma-
rathas under B^aji Rao — Death of Rajah Saho, 1749 —
Rajah Rim II. installed in his place — The Pe'shwa reigns at
Puna — Cession of West Berir to the Mardthas, 1753 — Savan-
driSg captured and made over to Bdlaji, 1755 — Capture of
Ahmadabdd by Ragoba, 1755— Chauth levied on the Jits and
Rdjputs, 1756 — Dehli entered and sacked by Ahmad Shah the
Durani, Augost, 1757 — Ghazi-nd-din brought back to Dehli
by Ragoba, 1757 — Ragoba conquers the Panjab, 1758, and
ravages Rohilkhand — Maratha conquests in the Dakhan. 1760
— Extent of the Maritha Empire, 1760 — Sedasheo Bhao dis-
places Ragoba in Hindiistin — The Marathas driven out of Ro-
hilkhand, November, 1759 — Murder of Alamgi'r by the Tizier,
November, 1759 — Ahmad Shah marches on Dehli, 1760 — Dehli
taken and plundered by the Marathas — Ahmad Shah crosses
the Jamna, October, 1760— The Bhao entrenches himself at
Panipat — Preliminary encounters between the Afghans and
Manithas — Distress of the Marithas — Battle of Panipat, Janu-
ary 6th, 1761 — Strength of the opposing armies — Arrangement
of the Mardtha line — The Afghan line of battle— Opening
successes of the Mariithas — Progress of the battle — Ahmad
Shah's last move — Defeat and rout of the Marathas — The
pursuit — Death of the Bhao— Maratha losses — Departure of
Ahmad Shah — Downfall of the Moghal Empire — Grief of the
Manithas — Death of the P^shwa 165
CHAPTER IX.
THE FKENCH AND ENGLISH IN INDIA, 1715 1751.
English progress in Bengal — Mr. Hamilton cures the Emperor
Farokhsfr, 1715 — Concessions granted by the Emperor to the
English— Bhnjii-nd-din drives the Ostend East India Company
a HISTOKY OF INDIA.
out of Bankipur, 1730 — Digging of the Maratha Ditch, 1742
— The pirates of the Eankan — Failure of the English and
Portuguese against Eolaba, 1722 — Power of the Angrias
broken, 175G — The English in Madras — War between Prance
and England, 1744 — Designs of Labourdonnais against Madras
— Siege of Madras by Labourdonnais, 1746 — Surrender of
Madras — The terms of surrender disallowed by Dupleix —
Labourdonnais quits Madras — Anwar-ud-din claims Madras —
Defeat of Anwar-ud-din by the French, November, 1746 —
The Nawab again defeated at St. Thomc^ — Repulse of the
French from Fort St. David, January, 1747 — Failure of a
second attack, March, 1747 — The French repulsed from
Kadaldr, June, 1747 — Admiral Boscawen besieges Pondicherry,
September, 1747 — Failure of the siege — Peace of Aix-la-
Chapelle, 1748 — Madras restored to the English, 1749 — English
interference in the affairs of Tanj{5r — Devikatta captured by
Major Lawrence, 1749 — Dupleix's ambitious designs — Chanda
Sihib released from prison — Defeat and death of Anwar-ud-din,
1749 — Progress of Mozafar Jang — Chanda Sahib declared
Nawab of the Camatic — Mohammad Ali, the rival Nawab,
supported by the English — Successes of Nasir Jang, Viceroy
of the Dakhan, 1750 — Dupleix's undaunted bearing — His
plots with Nasir Jang's nobles — The Viceroy retreats from
Pondicherry, 1750 — Masulipatam recovered by the French —
D'AuteulVs repulse of Mohammad Ali — Mohammad Ali driven
across the Panar — Bussy carries the fortress of Jinji — Nasir
Jang's advance on Jinji — His defeat and death, 1750 — Mozafar
Jang becomes Subad^r of the Dakhan, 1750 — Rewards con-
ferred on Dupleix and his countrymen — The power of Dupleix
at its highest, 1751 — Pathan plots against the new Subadar —
Death of Mozafar Jang, 1751 — Sal^bat Jang made Subadar
of the Dakhan 17
CHAPTER X.
THE FIGHT BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH, 1751 1757.
Intrignes of Mohammad Ali with the English, 1751 — Chanda
Sahib's advance on Trichinopoly, February, 1751 — Retreat of
the English from Volkonda — Clive's successful dash upon
Arkot, August, 1751 — Siege of Arkot by R.i]ah Sahib — Clive's
brilliant defence — He refuses to surrender — Final repulse of
the besiegei-s — Retreat of Rajah Sahib — Clive follows up the
enemy — Clive's victory at Kavaripak — Lawrence and CUve
at Trichinopoly — The French surrender to Lawrence, June,
CONTENTS. XXm
1752 — Death of Chanda Sahib — Dupleix continnes the war —
The English repulsed from Jinji — Second siege of Trichino-
poly, 1752-54 — Bussj's proceedings in the Dakhan — Cession
of the Northern Sarkars to Bussy, 1753 — M. Godeheu concludes
a treaty with the Governor of Madras, Mr. Saunders, Decem-
ber, 1754 — Terms of the treaty favourable to the Enghsh —
Retirement of Dupleix — His subsequent misfortunes — Re-
newed interference of the English in the affairs of the
Camatic, 1755 — The French follow suit — War between France
and England, May, 1756 — The French appear before Trichino-
poly. May, 1757 — The siege raised by CaUiaud — Successes of
the French in 1757 — Suriij-ud-daula, the new Subadar of
Bengal, 1756 — His demands on Mr. Drake — His march upon
Calcutta— Siege of Calcutta, June 17, 1756— Disgraceful conduct
of the English leaders — Mr. Holweli continues the defence —
The garrison abandoned by the ships — Surrender of Fort
WiUiam, June 21st — The night in the Black Hole — Fate of
the survivors — Arrival of English reinforcements in the
Hiighli, December, 1756 — Movements of Colonel Clive —
Calcutta re-taken, January, 1757 — Suraj-ud-daula marches on
Calcutta — Clive attacks, and forces him to retreat, February
1757 — Suraj -ud-daula makes peace with the English 185
CHAPTER XI.
THE ENGLISH TRIUMPHANT, 1751 1761.
Suraj-ud-daula plots with the French — Admiral Watson sends him
a threatening letter — CUve marches against Chandanagdr,
14th March — Surrender of Chandanagdr, 23rd March —
Suraj-ud-daula renews his plots — CUve's counterplot with Mir
■Tflffir — Interference of Amin Chand — Chve tricks him with a
forged ireaty — Flight of Watts from Murshidabad — CHve
marches towards Plassy, June, 1757 — Capture of Katwa, 17th
June — Clive's hesitation — He calls a council of war — Clive
crosses the Ganges, June 22nd — Encamps in the grove of
Plassy, June 23rd — The Battle of Plassy — The enemy's
retreat — Capture of the enemy's camp — Capture and death
of Suraj-ud-daula — Mir Jaffir installed as Nawab of Bengal —
Lands bestowed on the East India Company — Clive's reward
— Amin Chand undeceived — Clive made Governor of Fort
William — Coote's pursuit of the French — Futile risings in
Bengal, 1757 — English conquests in the Northern Sarkars,
1758-59 — Shah Alam invades Bengal, 1759 — He is chased
V HISTORY OF INDIA.
back to Dehli — A Jagi'r bestowed on Clive — A Dutch arma-
ment in the Hiighli, October, 1759 — Defeat and capture of the
Dutch fleet, November, 1759 — The Dutch routed at Bidara by
Forde, November 25th — Peace concluded between the English
and Dutch — Clive's return to England, February, 1700 — The
French in Southern India, 1758, under Lally — Capture of Fort
St. David by the French — Lally lays siege to Madras, Decem-
ber, 1758 — The siege raised, February, 1759 — Ront of the
French before Wandiwash by Colonel Coote, January, 1760 —
French reverses, 1700 — Siege of Pondicherry, September, 1760
— Lally in extremities — Surrender of Pondicherrj', January,
1761 — Lally's sad fate — Extinction of the French power in
India, 17C1 — The French Company abolished, 1769 193
CONTENTS.
BOOK IV.
THE RULE OF THE COilPANY.
CHAPTER I.
THE ENGLISH IN BENGAL, 1761 1771.
State of India in 1761 — The Moghal empire — The Panjab —
Sindh— Rohilkhand— Audh— Eajputana— The Marathas— The
Jata of Bhartpur— The Dakhan— Maisdr— The Camatic—
Travankdr— Goa — The English possessions — Bengal— Shah
Alam marches on Patna, 1760— Defeated by Colonel Calliand,
'20th Februarj- — Again defeated by Captain Knos, May, 1760 —
Knox defeats the Nawab of Pamia, June 16th— ilir Kasim
plots against his father-in-law- Abdication of ilir Jaffii-,
October, 1760— ilir Kasim's proceedings, 1761— His treatment
of Eamnarain, 1762— His disputes with the English— Violent
conduct and imprisonment of Jlr. Ellis— War between the
English and the Nawab, July, 1763— Mi'r Kasim's defeat at
Katwa, 19th July— ilir Jaffir proclaimed Nawab— Adams
victorious at Geriah, 2nd August— ilir Kasim's cruel ven-
geance— Walter Eeinhardt, alias Sumrn — ilassacre of the
English at Patna, 5th October, 1763— Storming of Patna by
Major Adams, 6th November — Mir Kasim escapes into Audh,
December, 1763— Hlness and death of Major Adams— Shall
Alam again defeated by the English, 1761 — Falls into the
hands of Shuja-nd-daula — Shuja-ud-danla repulsed from
Patna, 3rd May, 176-1- Major Munro queUs a mutiny among
his troops, August, 176-t — Sets out for Baxar, October— Battle
of Baxar, 23rd October, 1764— Utter rout of the Nawab-Yizier
Advance of the English to Allahabad— Fruitless negotia-
tions with Shuja-ud-daula — The English repulsed from
Chunar — Defeats of the Marathas and the Nawab-Tizier by
Camac, 1765— Shuja-ud-daula makes peace — Arrival of Lord
n HISTORY OF INDIA.
Clive in Calcutta, May, 1765— Treaty with the Nawab of
Audh — Shah Alam cedes Bengal, Eahar, and Orissa to Clive,
August, 1765 — Xajm-ud-daula, titular Kawab of Bengal —
Eetirement of llir Kasim and Sumru — Position of the English
in 1765 — Olive suppresses the ofEcers' mutiny, 1766 — Reforms
carried out by Clive in the civil government — State of affairs
in the Civil Service, 1766 — Clive suppresses the private trade
of the Company's servants — His measures for increasing their
lawful pay — Clive sets sail for England, January, 1767 — Estab-
lishment of " Lord Clive's Fimd " — Ill-treatment of Clive at
home — His bold defence, 1770 — The House of Commons re-
jects the vote of censure against Clive, 1772 — Death of Clive,
21th Xovember, 1774 203
CHAPTER n.
ETENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPER INDIA, 1761 1775.
Affairs in the Camatic, 1761-63— Treaty of 1763 between France
and England — Salabat Jang murdered by his brother, Xizam
Ali, 1763 — Xiziim Ali retires from the Carnatic — The English
occupy the Northern Sarkars, 1766 — Their treaty of alliance
with the Jsizdm — Rise of Haidar Ali Khan — He dethrones the
Rajah of Maisdr, 1765 — The Feshwa ravages Maisdr, January,
1767 — Nizam Ali plays the English false — Defeat of Haidar
and the Nizam at Changama by Colonel Smith, 3rd September
— Smith again victorious at TrinomaUi, 26th September —
Calvert's brave defence of Ambiir, November, 17G7 — The siege
raised by Colonel Smith — Fresh treaty between the English
and the Nizam, February, 1768 — Haidar denounced as a rebel
and usurper — English successes in the west, 1768 — Recapture
of MangaWr by Haidar — Smith's progress in Maisdr, 1768 —
Haidar's failure to obtain terms — His subsequent successes —
His bold march upon Madras, 1769 — Haidar dictates peace
before Madras. April 3, 1769 — Maratha irruption into Northern
India, 1769 — Shah Alam installed at Dehli by the Marathas,
25th December, 1771 — Shah Alam intrigues against the
Marathas, 1772 — Defeat of Najaf Khan — Terms imposed on
Shah Alam, December, 1772 — Korah and Allahabad made over
by the English to Shuja-ud-daula, 1773 — Retreat of the Ma-
rathas southwards. May, 1773 — Haidar All's ill-success against
the Marathas, 1770 — His defeat by Trimbak Mama, 1771 — His
vain appeal to Madras — His disastrous peace with the Ma-
rathas, December, 1771 — Progress of affairs in Bengal, 1767-
1771 — Great famine in Bengal, 1770 — Reforms annotmced by
CON'TENTS. XrVU
the Couit of Directors, 1771— Rise of Warren Hastings-
Hastings at Madras, 1769 — His arrival as President at Cal-
cutta, April, 1772 — His proceedings against Mohammad
Reza Khan and Shitab Rai — Acquittal of those officers —
Disappointment of Nand Kumar — Reformfl instituted by
Hastings — Transfer of the seat of government to Calcutta —
Administration of civil and criminal justice — Settlement of
the land-revenue — Appointment of English collectors — The
central Board of Revenue — Parliament takes the Company's
affairs in hand— Lord North's Regulating Act, 1773 — The
Govemor-G«neral and CouncU— The Supreme Court of Judi-
cature— Cessation of tribute to the Emperor, 1773 — Cession of
Korah and Allahabad to Audh — Loan of English troops to
Shuja-ud-daula, 177-1 — Reasons for the arrangement — Colonel
Champion enters Rohilkhand, 1774 — He defeats the Rohillas at
Rampur, 23rd April, 1774 — Expulsion of the Pathans from
Rohilkhand — Beginning of the quarrel between Hastings and
his new council, 1774 — Character and proceedings of Francis —
His reversal of Hastings' pohcy towards Audh, 1776 — In-
terference of the Council in other directions — Encouragement
given by Francis to Nand Kumdr — Prosecution of Nand
Kumar in the Supreme Court — Trial and condemnation of the
Rajah — Remarks on his sentence — No efforts made to save
him — Execution of Nand Kumar, August, 1775 — Conduct of
the spectators 21B
CHAPTER in.
WAKSEN HASTINGS, 1775 1786.
Opposition to Hastings at home — ^The Court of Proprietors befriend
him — Death of Colonel Monson, September, 1776 — Improve-
ment in Hastings' prospects — Clavering's attempt to oust
Hastings, 1777 — Hastings counteracts him — His successful
appeal to the Supreme Court — Death of Clavering, 1777 — ■
Hastings regains the ascendency in Council — Revision of the
revenue — Settlements in Bengal, 1777-1778 — Hastings re-
appointed Governor-General, 177S — Progress of events in
■VVestern India, 1772-1775 — Murder of the Peshwa Narain
Rao, 177'2 — Ragoba claims to succeed him — A rival Peshwa
set up at Piina — The Bombay Government agrees to help
Ragoba, 1775 — Successes of Colonel Keating — The Treaty of
Surat disallowed by the Bengal Government — Treaty of
Puranda, March, 1776 — Failure of the treaty — Reception of
M. St. Lubin at Piina, March, 1777 — Renewal of war with the
mi HISTORY OF INDIA.
Marathas, 1778 — Eetreat of the Bombay force from Taligdon,
1779 — Disgraceful convention of Worgaom, 13th January,
1779 — The convention annulled — Goddard defeats the Ma-
rathas, 1780 — Hartley in the Kankan — Popham's bold march
across the Jamna, February, 1780 — His daring capture of
Gwiilior, August 3rd — Surrender of Bassein to Goddard,
December, 1780 — Hartley defeats the Marathas, December —
Defeat of Sindia by Camac, March, 1781 — Goddard's retreat
from the Ghita, 1781— Progress of Haidar Ali, 1772-1778 —
His frontier extended to the Kistna, 1778 — Rejection of
Haidar's overtures at Madras — Progress of affairs in Madras,
1773-77 — Dissensions in the Madras Council — Imprisonment of
Lord Pigot, 1776 — "War between France and England, 1778 —
Pondicherry once more taken, October — Capture of Mahe,
1779 — Haidar's wrath thereat — Haidar's league with Nana
Famawi's — His preparations for war with the EngMsh — Neu-
trality of the Nizdm — Apathy of the Madras Government,
1780 — Haidar bursts upon the Camatic, July, 1780 — Slow
progress of Baillie's column, September — Its defeat and utter
destruction, September 10th— Fate of the survivors — Mtmro
falls back upon Madras — Arkot captured by Haidar, No-
vember, 1780 — Hastings' energetic measures — Sir Eyre Coote
hastens to Madras — Gallant defence and relief of Wandiwash,
January, 1781 — Coote'a failure at Chillambram, June — Coote
defeats Haidar at Porto Novo, July 1 — Haidar again defeated
at Sholingarh, 24th September — "War with Holland — Capture
of Negapatam, November — Fall of Trincomalee, January, 1782
— The revenues of the Camatic assigned to the English — Coote
relieves Velldr — Successes of Major Abingdon in Malabar —
Destruction of Braithwaite's force by Tippn, 1782 — Indecisive
battles at sea — Kadaldr and Trincomalee taken by the French —
Coote retires to Bengal, December, 1782 — Darkening prospects
at Madras — Death of Haidar Ali, 7th December, 17S2 — Break-
ing up of the Maritha League. 1781-82 — Treaty of Salbai. May,
178'2— Death of Coote, 26th April, 1783— Progress of Bnssy,
April — Capture of Bedndr by Tippu, May, 1783 — Defence
and final surrender of Mangaldr, May, 1783, to January, 17S4 —
Bossy defeated by General Stuart, 1783 — Cessation of hos-
tilities between French and English, July, 1783 — Progress of
Colonel Fullarton, 1783 — The Madras Government treats for
^>eace with Tippn, 1783 — Tippu's treatment of the English
envoys — Embarrassments of the Nawab-Vizierin Audh, 1775 —
Mutiny among his troops — Treaty of peace with Tippu, March,
1784 :
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
WAEREx HASTINGS — (continued).
Strife in Bengal between the Supreme Court and the Company's
servants, 1779-80 — Impey becomes head of the Sadr Dewdni
Adalat, 1780 — Good results of this step— Vacillation of the
Court of Directors — Impey removed from his new post, 1782 —
Impey's recall from Calcutta, 1783 — Hastings' demands on
Chait Singh — Chait Singh placed in arrest by Hastings,
August, 1781 — Popular rising in Banaras — Hastings withdraws
to Chunar— Flight of Chait Singh, October, 1781— Capture of
Bijigarh, 9th November — Appointment of a new Rajah —
Hastings' treaty with the Nawab of Audh — Plunder of the
Audh Be'gams — Hastings censured by the Court of Directors,
1782 — His final retirement, 1785 — His reception in England —
Pitt's India Bill of 1784 — Proceedings against Hastings in the
House of Commons — Discussion of the charges brought against
him, 1786-87 — His impeachment before the Lords, 1788 — His
triumphant acquittal, 1795 — Pension granted him by the Court
of Directors — His final appearance before the Commons, 1813
— His last years and death, 1813-18 — Revenues of the Camatic
restored to Mohammad Ali, 1786 — Macpherson acts for Hast-
ing, 1785-86 — Lord ComwaUis Governor-General of India.
September, 1786 — State of affairs in India 246
CHAPTER V.
LORD COBNWALLIS, 1786 1793.
The new Governor-General's reforming measures — Cession of
Gantur to the Company, 1788 — The Nizam's overtures to
Tippu come to naught — Bargain concluded between Comwallis
and the Nizam — Tippu's resentment — Tippa invades Tra-
vankdr, December, 1789 — Advance of General Meadows, May,
1790 — Capture of Palghat, 21st September— Defeat of Colonel
Floyd — Arrival of the Bengal column, November — Hartley's
achievements on the Bombay side — Fall of Kanandr — Com-
wallis replaces Meadows, 1791 — Fall of Bangaldr, 21st March
Defeat of Tippu at Arikera, 14th May— Retreat of the English,
26th May — Conquest of the Baramahal — Capture of the Hill
Forts in Maisdr — Capture of Koimbator by Tippu, 1791
Final advance on Seringapatam, 1792 — Tippu treats for terms
— Terms offered by Comwallis, February — Hitch in the nego-
;X HISTORY OP INDIA.
tiations, March — Conclusion of the treaty with Tippu, March
19th — Gains of the victors — Progress of Mahdaji Sindia —
His advance to Dehli, 1784 — Titles conferred on the Peshwa
and Sindia by Shah Alam — Sindia's difficulties — His troops are
disciplined by European officers — His defeat by the Rajijuts,
1787 — His victory over Ismael Beg, June, 1788 — Ghola'm Kadir
enters Dehli — His troops plunder the city — Shah Alam blinded
by Gholam Kadir, 10th August, 1788 — Gholdm Eadir's dread-
ful punishment, March, 1789 — Reinstalment of Shah Alam,
October, 1788 — Triumphant progress of Mahdaji Sindia,
1789-92 — Sindia sets out for Piina, 1792 — Grand investiture
at Piina, July — Sindia's mock humility — Eclipse of Nana
Famawis, 1793 — Sindia at the height of his power— His death,
12th February, 179J — The Permanent Settlement of Bengal —
The land-rents of India — How divided— Rise of the Bengal
Zamindars — Decay of the village communities — The Zamindari
settlement of 1789 — The Zamindari settlement made perpetual,
1793— Objections to the Permanent Settlement — Hardships
endured by the Rayats — Excuses to be made for the Za-
mindars— The evU of summary sales of land— Drawbacks to
a fixed assessment in money — Hard and fast character of such
assessments — The land revenue becomes stationary — Resort to
new means of taxation — General view of the Permanent Set-
tlement— Its results for good or evil — Reforms in the civil and
criminal courts — The revised code of regulations — Exclusion
of natives from the higher posts — Evil effects of such ex-
clusion-Capture of Pondicherry, August, 1793 — Retirement
of Lord Comwallis, October, 1793— Sir John Shore Governor-
General 253
CHAPTER VI.
SIR JOHN SHOKE AND MARQUIS WELLESLEY, 1793 1800.
State of affairs in Southern India, 1794— Shore's refusal to help the
Nizdm- War between the Mardthas and Nizam Ah, 1795—
Defeat of the Nizam at Kurdla, 11th March— The Nizam makes
peace, 13th March, 1795— Supremacy of NanaFamawis, 1795-
Death of the Peshwa Madhu Rao 11., October, 1795— Intrigues
concerning a successor to the late Peshwa— Chimnaji Appa
placed for a term on the throne, May, 179f — Baji Rao installed
as Peshwa, 4th December, 179«— Biiji plots against Sindia and
Nifna Farnawis — Imprisonment and subsequent release of the
CONTENTS. XXXI
Nana, 1796-97 — Mutiny among the Company's officers, 1790 —
Concessions made by Sir J. Shore — Displeasure of Pitt's
ministry — Disputed succession to the throne of Audh, 1797 —
Settlement in favour of Siidat Ali — Shore's dangerous position
at Lucknow — Retirement of Sir John Shore, March, 1798 —
Lord Momington, Governor-General — Tippu's intrigues with
the French — Lord Momington's prompt measures — Un-
readiness at Madras — Doubtful attitude of the Marathas —
Disarming of the Nizam's French contingent, 10th October,
1798 — New treaty with the Nizam — Tippu declines to be
warned in time — His intrigues ^vith Kabul and Buonaparte —
Advance of General Harris on Seringapatam, February, 1799 —
Tippu's obstinacy — Failure of his attack on Hartley, 6th
March, 1799 — Hia defeat at Malavalli by General Harris,
27th March — Flank march of General Harris — Tippu's rage
thereat — Siege of Seringapatam, 17th April — Assault and
capture of the city, 3rd May, by General Baird — Dis-
covery of Tippu's body — Incidents of the funeral, 4th
May — Losses and gains of the victors — Lord Momington
becomes Marquis Wellesley — Division of Maisdr — The old
Hindu dynasty restored — Fate of Tippu's family — Timely
fmstration of Maratha intrigues — New subsidiary tieaty with
the Nizam, October, 1800 — Tanjdr placed under English rule,
1799 — Absorption of Surat — Absorption of the Camatic, 1801 —
Defence of Lord Wellesley 's policy — " Vestigia nulla re-
troi-sum " 2G7
HISTORY OF INDU.
BOOK V.
THE ENGLISH PARAMOUNT.
CHAPTER I.
MARQUIS WELLESLET TO 1805.
Rising of Dhundia Wagh in Maisdr, 1799— His final defeat and
death, September, 1800 — Baird's expedition to Egypt, 1800 —
Wellesley's plans against the Mauritins thwarted by the
English Admiral, 1801 — Overtm-es from Wellesley to Persia —
Ranjit Singh established at Lahdr, 1709— Malcolm's embassy
to the Shah of Persia, 1800— Its immediate results- Proceed-
ings in Audh, 1799— Rebellion of Wazir Ali, 1799— Cession of
territory by Sadat Ali, November, 1801 — Wellesley's internal
reforms— Remodelling of the Sadr Courts — Encouragement of
private trade— The College of For* William founded, 1800 —
Jobbery of the Court of Directors — Lord Wellesley's resigna-
tion deferred, 1802— Death of Nana Famawis, 1800— Dissen-
sions among the Marathas — Treaty of Bassein, December,
1802 — Baji Rao brought back to Piina by the English, May,
1803 — League of Sindia with the Rajah of Berar- Sindia's
threatening movements against the English — Lord WeUesley
declares war with the Marathas, August, 1803 — Ahmadnagar
captured by General Wellesley, August 12— Battle of Assai,
September 23rd— Rout of the Marithas— Conquest of Kattak,
October — Fall of Asirgarh- Victory of Argaum, November 28
— Terms of peace with the Rajah of Berar, December, 1803 —
Capture of Aligarh by General Lake, 29th August, 1803 —
Defeat of the Marathas before Dehli, 11th September — liake's
victory near Agi'a, 10th October — Capture of Agra, 18th
October — Battle of Laswari, 1st November — Brave resistance
and final rout of Sindia's troops — Cession of territory by
Sindia — Treaty of Sarji Arjangaum, 30th December — Division
of the spoils — Wellesley's relations with other native States
CONTENTS. XXSIU
— Tlireatening movements of Holkar, 1804 — The English take
the field against him, April — Monson's disastrous retreat, July
— Holkar's raid against Dehli, October — Ochterlony's gallant
defence of Dehli — Pursuit of Holkar by Lake — Battle of Dhi'g,
13th November — Lake beats up Holkar's quarters at Faroka-
bad, 17th November — Capture of Dhi'g, 23rd December — Un-
successful siege of Bhartpiir, February, 1805 — The Rajah of
Bhartpur raakea peace with the English — Sindia's doubtful at-
titude— Lord Wellesley's retirement, July, 1805 — His treat-
ment at home 277
CHAPTER n.
LOKD CORNWALLIS AND LORD MINTO, 1805 1813.
Lord Comwallis again Governor-General, July, 1805 — Death of
Comwallis, 5th October — Sir George Barlow acts in his stead
— Reversal of Wellesley's policy — Treaty with Sindia, Novem-
ber, 1805 — Mild terms granted to Holkar — Hard fate of Bhundl
and Jaipur — Lord Lake's disgust thereat — Holkar's ravages and
extortions, 1806 — Raids of Sindia and Amir Khan — Holkar's
madness and death, 1811 — Intrigues at Piina and Haidariibad,
defeated by Sir G. Barlow, 1806— Mutiny of Velldr, July, 1806
— Causes of the mutiny — English missionaries in Bengal —
Mohammadan intrigues — The mutiny suppressed by Colonel
Gillespie— Recall of Lord W. Bentinck from Madras — Lord
Mmto, Governor-General, July, 1807 — Sir G. Barlow traus-
feiTed to Madras — Aggressive movements of Ranjit Singh,
1808 — Metcalfe's mission toLahdr — Treaty with Ranjit Singh,
April, 1809 — Mission to Kabul, 1808 — Rival missions to
Teheran, 1809 — Amir Khan's raid against Berar, 1809 — Lord
Minto's timely interference — Suppression of piracy on the
Malabar coast, 1809 — Proceedings against pirates in the Per-
sian Gulf, 1810 — Capture of Bourbon and the Mauritius, 1810
— Travankdr placed under English rule, 1809 — Mutiny among
the Madras officers, 1809 — Its suppression by Sir G. Barlow,
1810 — Rise and progress of the Pindaris — Their inroads and
cruelties — Retirement of Lord Minto, October, 1813 — Renewal
of the Company's Charter, 1813 — Opening of the trade of
India— The first Bishop of Calcutta 287
CHAPTER ni.
MAHQUIS OF HASTINGS, 1813 1823.
Quarrel mth Nipal, 1813 — Nipalese aggressions — The Earl of Moira,
Governor-General, 1813 — The Gurkhas invade Ghorakpur,
0
UV HISTORY OF INDIA.
1814 — Expedition against Nipdl, October — Death of Gillespie
before Kalanga, October, 1814 — Capture of Kalanga, December
— Blunders of tlie English Generals — Ochterlony'a euccesses —
Capture of Malaun, May, 1815 — Vain negotiations for peace,
1815 — Campaign of 181G, under Ochterlony — Treaty with
JNip^, March, 1816 — Lord Moira becomes Marquis of Hastings
— Lord Hastings' policy towards native Princes — Alliance
with Bhopjil— Treaty with Appa Sahib of Bcrar, 1816— The
Treaty of June, 1817, with the Peshwa — English acquisitions
— Jaipur rescued from Amir Khan — Kenewal of Pindiri
ravages — Campaign against the Pindaris, 1817 — Great out-
break of cholera in Bengal, 1817 — Suppression of the Pindaris
— Death of Chi'tii, the Pindari leader, 1818 — Renewed plot-
tings of the Peshwa, October, 1817 — Elphinstone's precautions
— Attack upon the Piina Residency, November 5 — Battle of
Kirki — Rout of the Marathas — Capture of Puna by General
Smith, November 17 — Staunton's defence of Karigaum, 1st
January, 1818 — Progress of General Munro — Maraiha defeat
at Ashti, February, 1818 — Close pursuit of Bdji Rao — Sur-
render and dethronement of the Peshwa, May, 1818 — Annexa-
tion of his dominions — The Rajah of Satara restored to power
— Revolt of Appa Stihib — Battle of Sitabaldi, November, 1817
— Defeat of the Mardthas — Capture of Nagpiir, December —
Dethronement of Appa Sahib — His wanderings and death —
War with Holkar — Victoiy of Mahidpur, 21st December, 1817
— ^Treaty of Mandisdr, 6Lh January, 1818 — Sindia's neutral at-
titude— Results of the campaign — The English supreme in
India — A new reign of peace and order — Capture of Asirgarh,
April, 1819— Elphinstone at Bombay, 1S20— The Rayatwiri
settlement in Madras, 1820 — The village -settlement in the
North-Westem Provinces, 1821 — Outbreak in Orissa, 1818 —
Lord Hastings* domestic policy — Establishment of native
schools — The first native newspaper, 1 8 1 8 — Promotion of public
works — Acquisition of Singapore, 1819 — State of affairs at
Haidardbid — Settlement of the Nizam's debts — Failure of
Messrs. Palmer & Co., 1822 — Flourishing state of the Indian
revenues — Retirement of Lord Hastings, Januaiy 1, 1823 —
His treatment by the Company, 1825 295
CHAPTER IV.
LORD AMHERST AND LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK, 1823 1835.
liord Amherst lands in India, 1823— Progress of the Burmese—
Eurman aggressions, 1818-22 — Fresh raids of the Burmese,
1823 — Boastful advance of Barman troops — War declared
CONTENTS. XXXV
against Bnrmah, February, 182-t — Capture of Rangoon, May
11th — Movements on the Tenasseiim coast — Campbell's ad-
vance from Rangoon, December, 1824 — Defeat of the Burmese
— Capture of Donabyu, April, 1825— Occupation of Prome,
April 25 — Conquest of Assam, 1825 — 111 -success of the Kachdr
column — Morison's advance into Arakan, 1825 — Dreadful sick-
ness among his troops — Campbell's final advance on Ava,
December, 1825 — Fresh defeats of the Burmese — Treaty of
Yandabii, 24th February, 182G — Cession of Assam, Arakin,
and Tenasserim — Mutiny of the 47th Native Infantry at Bar-
rackpiSr, October, 1824 — Causes of the mutiny — Its stern sup-
pression, 2nd November — Fate of the mutineers — Siege of
Bhartpdr, December, 1825 — Its capture, ISth January, 1826 —
Dethronement of the Rajah — Death of Sir Thomas Munro,
1827 — Sir John Malcolm, Governor of Bombay, 1827 — Bishop
Heber's death, 1826 — Death of Daulat Rao Sindia — Death of
Sir David Ochterlony — Sir C. Metcalfe at Dehli — Retirement
of Lord Amherst — Lord William Benttnck, Governor-General,
1828-35 — Prohibition of Satti, 1829 — Crusade against Thaggi,
1830 — Its final suppression by Major Sleeman — The Half-
Batta order, 1829 — Retrenc'oments in the civil service —
Abolition of flogging in the Native army — Native Chrietdane
in the civil service — Change in the laws of inheritance —
Judicial reforms — The Calcutta Medical College, 1835 — New
Settlement of the North-Western Provinces under Mr. Robert
Bird, 1833 — The first steam voyage up the Ganges, 1830 — The
first steamer from Bombay to Suez — The native Princes —
Affairs in JodpiSr — GwaUor, 1833 — Jaipur and Bhopifl — Mis-
rule in Audh, 1831— Annexation of Kurg, 1834 — Annexation
of Kachitr, 1832 — Occupation of Maisdr, 1832 — Mohammadan
rising at Bdraset, 1831 — Rebellion of the Kdls in Bengal —
Lieutenant Outram among the Bhils — Hall's labours in Mair-
wdra — The Khdnds of Gumsar — Efforts of Campbell and Mac-
pherson to suppress human sacrifices — Attempts to quell
female infanticide among the Rajputs, 1830 — Causes of the
practice — Russian progress in Persia, 1812-28 — Bumes's Mis-
sion to Ranjit Singh, 1831 — The Amirs of Sindh — Bumes pro-
ceeds up the Indus — Meeting at Rupar between Lord Bentinck
and Ranji't Singh, October, 1831 — Commercial treaties with
Sindh and the PanjiCb, 1832— Retirement of Lord W. Bentinck,
March, 1835— The Charter Act of 1833— Extinction of the
Company's trade privileges — New rights conceded to natives
and Europeans — Legislative powers of the Governor-General
— Mr. Macaulay in the Supreme Council 304
c2
SXXVl HISTOBT OF INDIA.
CHAPTER V.
LORD AUCKLAND, 1836 1842.
Sir Charles Metcalfe acts as Governor-General. 1835 — Repeal of the
laws against the press of India — Annoyance of the Home
Government — Lord Auckland, Govemor-G«aeral, 1836 — Sir C.
Metcalfe retires from India, 1836 — Lord Auckland interferes in
Audh, 1837 — Dethronement of the King of Satara, 1839 —
Captain Bumes at Kabul, 1837 — Dost Mohammad asks for
English aid — Lord Auckland's cold reply — Herat besieged by
the Persians, 1837 — Afghan intrigues with Persia — Lord
Auckland takes part with Shah Shiija — The Tripaitite Treaty,
1838 — Opinions regarding Lord Auckland's policy — Pottinger's
successful defence of Herat — Retreat of the Persians from
Herat, 1838 — Assembling of the Army of the Indus, November,
1838 — Coercion of the Sindh Amirs— The invasion of Afghanis-
tan, 1839 — Shah Shiij^ at Kandahar, April — Capture of
Ghazni, 22nd July — Flight of Dost Mohammad, August — The
English occupy Kabul, 7th August — Colonel Wade's advance
through the Khaibar, August — Death of Ranji't Singh, 27th
June — Honours bestowed on the conquerors — Return of the
Bombay troops, September — Capture of Khelat, October — Sir
W. Macnaghten at Kabul — Surrender of Dost Mohammad,
November, 1840 — Khilji rising. May, 1841 — Growmg disaf-
fection among the Afghans — Murder of Sir Alexander Bumes,
2nd November — Imbecility of the English commanders —
Disasters at Kabul — Macnaghten treats with the Afghans —
Disgraceful conditions accepted by General Elphinstone,
December — Treachery of the Afghans — Murder of Macnaghten
by Akbar Khan, 23rd December — Negotiations resumed —
Elphinstone's retreat from Kabul, 6th January, 1842 — Ter-
rible disasters on the way — Dr. Brydon reaches Jalalabad. 13th
January — Annihilation of the Kabul force — State of feeling
in India — Bewilderment at head-quarters — Bold attitude of
Nott and Sale — Clerk's energy at Labor — 'Wild's repulse from
the Khaibar Pass, February — Darkening prospects at Pesha-
war, February, 1842 — March of reinforcements under General
Pollock — Retirement of Lord Auckland, Febniary 28 — His
recent domestic policy — Baneful effects of his foreign policy Slo
CHAPTER VI.
LORD ELLENBOROUGH AND LORD HARDINGE, 1842 1848.
Lord EUenborough, Governor-General, 1842— PoUock at Peshawar
— The difficulties in his way — His advance into the Khaibar,
CONTENTS. XXXVU
5th April — His brilliant success — Belief of Jalflabid — Sale's
final defeat of Akbar Khan, 7th April — Pollocli obtains leave
to retire by way of Kabul, July — Nott's advance from Kanda-
har, 7th August — Recapture of Ghazni, 30th August — Nott's
victorious entry into Kabul, 17th September — Pollock's ad-
vance from Jalalabad, 20th August — Victories of Jagdalak
and Tazin, August-September — Pollock's entry into the Bala
Hissar, 16th September — Rescue of the English captives by
Shakespear — Destruction of the Kabul Bazaar — March home-
ward of the conquerors, 12th October — Fate of Shah Shuja
and his family — Grand parade at Firozpiir — Liberation of Dost
Mohammad — The Governor-General's bombast — Rewards be-
stowed on the victors — War with the Sindh Amirs, 1843 —
Baluchi attack on the Haidarabad Residency, February, 1843
— Outram's retreat — Napier's victory at Mi^ni, 17th February
— The battle of Dabha or Haidarabad, 24th March — Annexation
of Sindh — Disturbances in Gwalior — Anarchy in the Panjab,
1843 — Gough's troops march towards Gwalior, December —
Victories of Maharajpur and Paniar, 29th December — Submis-
sion of Gwalior, 1844 — Colonel Sleeman's powers as Resident
at Gwalior — Abolition of slavery, 1843 — Recall of Lord Ellen-
borough, June, 1844 — Sir H. Hardinge, Governor-General, July
— Mutiny of Bengal Sepoys, March, 1844 — Outbreak in the
Southern Maratha Country, October — Its suppression by Out-
ram, 1845 — Napier's campaign in the Trakki Hills, 1845^
Stat« of affairs in the Panjdb — Death of Hira Singh, 1844 —
Sir H. Hardinge prepares for war — The Sikhs march towards
the Satlaj, December, 1845 — Sir Hugh Gough hastens to meet
them — The Sikhs cross the Satlaj, r2th December — They de-
cline Littler's offer of battle, 16th December — Battle of
Mudki, 18th December — Defeat of the Sikhs — Battle of Firoz-
Bhahr, 21st December— The night of the 21st^The battle
renewed, 2'2nd December — Final overthrow of the Sikhs —
Losses of the victors — Sikh movement on Ludiana, 20th
January, 1846 — The affair of Baduwal — Smith's victory at
Aliwal, 28th January — Battle of Sobraon, 10th February —
Utter rout of the Sikhs — Losses and gains of the victors —
Gough's advance to Lah6r — Treaty of February 23 — Kash-
mir sold to Guldb Singh, March, 1846 — Colonel Lawrence
resident at Lah<5r — Hardinge and Gongh made peers — Law-
rence suppresses a revolt in Kashmir, October, 1846 — Banish-
ment of Lai Singh — Treaty of Bhairowal, 26th December —
Lord Hardinge's home poHcy — Progress of the Ganges Canal
— First surveys for Indian railways, 1846 — Private enterprise —
Native education — Local disturbances, 1846-48 — Retirement
of Lord Hardinge, March, 1848 323
HISTORY OF INDU.
BOOK VI.
CONSOLIDATION OF ENGLISH RULE,
CHAPTER I.
I-ORD DALHOUSIE, 1848 1856.
Lord Dalhoasie lands in India, January, 1848 — Rising of Mulraj at
Multan, April — Murder of Anderson and Vans Agnew — Delay
ia Bending troops against Mulraj — Edwardes and Cortlandt
take the field — Mulraj thrice defeated, June — Multan besieged
by General Whish, 7th September — Desertion of Shir Singh —
Suspension of the siege — Spread of revolt in the Panj^b — Lord
Dalhousie declares war with the Siihs, October — The Afghans
join the Sikhs — The siege of Multan renewed, 27th December
— Mulraj surrenders the citadel, 2?nd January, 1849 — Skirmish
at Kamnagar, 22nd November, 1848 — Thackwell repulses the
Sikhs at Sadiilapur, 2nd December — Gough engages the Sikhs
at Chihanwala, 13th January, 1849 — Defeat of the enemy —
Heavy loss of the victors — Shir Singh's flank march on Lahdr
— The Sikhs entrenched at Gujarat. — Battle of Gujarat, 2l8t
February, 1849 — Storming of Kalra — Utter rout of the Sikhs
— Gilbert's chase of the Sikhs and Afghans — The surrender at
Kawal Pindi, March — Flight of the Afghans beyond the Khai-
bar — Annexation of the Panjab, 29th March — The new Board
of Administration under Sir Henry Lawrence — Good results of
the new rule — Mutiny in some Bengal regiments, 1850 — Sir C.
Napier resigns the chief command — Origin of the second Bur-
mese war, 1852 — General Godwin approaches Rangoon, April
— Capture of Rangoon and other places, April-June — Godwin's
advance to Prome, October — Sir J. Cheape captures Donabyii,
January, 1853 — Negotiations for peace — Annexation of Pegu,
1853 — Pegu under Colonel Phayre — Absorption of Satira, 1848
— Absorption Oi Nagpur, 1853 — Absorption of Jhansi — The
question of Karanli — The Nana Dhiindii Pant and his claims —
CONTENTS. SXSIS
Cession of Berir in pledge by the Nizam, 1853 — Dalhonsie's
answer to the Eajah of Maisdr, 1856 — Progress of misrale in
Audh — Warnings of saccessive Govemois-General — Opinions
of Sleeman and Oatram — Dalhousie's general agreement with
them both — Complete annexation ordered from home — The
King of Andh formally dethroned, 7th February, 1856 — Rising
of the Santals, July, 1855 — Their ravages and final suppression
— Dalhousie's administrative genius — Sir John Lawrence, Chief
Commissioner of the Panjab, 1853 — Progress of public works
— Opening of the Ganges Canal, Sth April, 1854 — Reward
bestowed on Colonel Cautley — Canals in the Panjab — Extent
of Dalhousie's reforms — A cheap uniform postage — Progress
of telegraphs under Dr. O'Shaughnessy — New system of admi-
nistrative reports — Spread of railways — Progress of education
— Renewal of the Company's Charter, 1853 — Remodelling of
the Court of Directors — The Indian Civil Sen-ice opened to
public competition — Bengal obtains a Lieutenant-Governor —
Dalhousie's farewell minutes — His final retirement, March.
1856— His death, 1860 335
CHAPTER n.
LORD CANNING, 1856 1862.
Lord Canning's arrival in India, 29th February, 1856 — Macanlay's
Penal Code taken up by Mr. Peacock— Enlistment for general
service — New terms imposed on the Dehli Princes — War with
Persia— Capture of Bushir, December, 1856— Outram's victory
at Khushab, Sth February, 1857 — Further successes, March —
Peace concluded with the Shah, 4th March- Signs of coming
danger to the English in India, 1857 — Prevalence of strange
reports — Plotters at work — Spread of lying rumours — Weak
state of the English garrisons — Restlessness of the Bengal
Sepoys — The story of the greased cartridges, 1857 — Strange
proceedings of the Sepoys — Mutiny of the 19th N.I., 26th
February — Punishment of the mutineers — Outbreak at Bar-
rackpore, 29th March— Spread of disaffection— Wild stories
— The mysterious chapdthis — Mutiny in Audh, 2nd May —
Its suppression by Sir H. Lawrence — Mutiny and massacres
at Meerut, 10th May — Inaction of the English commanders
Rising and murders at Dehli, 1 1th May — WUloughby's brave
defence of the arsenal — Flight of the surviving EngUsh
Timely warnings to other stations — Prompt aedon of the
English in the Panjib — Disarming of Sepoys at Lah6r and
Peshawar — Punishment of the Marddn mutineers — Loyalty of
HISTORY OF INDIA.
the people in the Panjab — Good conduct of some native princes
— Friendliness of Dost Mohammad — Sir J. Lawrence sends help
across the Satlaj — Progress of revolt in May and June — The
Rani of Jhansi's cruel revenge — State of things in Audh, May
— Sad plight of the Cawnpore garrison, June — Havoc in the
North-Westem Provinces — Measures taken by Lord Canning —
Panic in Culcutta — Colonel NeiU at Ban^ras, June — His ar-
rival at Allahabad, Uth June — Havelock starts from Allaha-
bad, 7th July — He twice defeats the Nana — The English re-
enter Cawnpore, I7thJuly — Sufferings and fate of Wheeler's
garrison, June-July — Escape of four survivors 350
CHAPTER m.
LORD CANNING {contitiued).
Defeat of the rebels at Badli Serai, 8th Jane — Siege of Dehli by Sir
Henry Barnard — Death of Sir H. Barnard — Hlness of General
Reed — Brigadier Wilson takes the command, July — Snccoura
from the Panjab — Nicholson's arrival in camp, August — Sout
of the rebels at Najafgarh, 25th August — Critical state of
affairs in India — Arrival of troops from Ceylon and the Cape
— Progress of Major Eyre — State of things inside Dehli, Sep-
tember— The heavy batteries open fire on the city, 11th Sep-
tember— Advance of the stoiming columns, 14th September —
Nicholson mortally wounded — Final capture of the whole city,
20th September — The King of Delhi taken prisoner, 21st Sep-
tember— Fate of the Dehli princes — Trial of the King, March,
1858 — His sentence commuted to transportation — The conquest
of Dehli a wonderful feat — Lawrence's share therein — The
rebellion receives a death-blow — Defence of Lucknow, July
to September, 1857 — Death of Sir H. Lawrence, 4th July —
Endurance of the besieged — Outram's march from Cawnpore,
19th September — Storming of the Alambagh, 23rd September
— Havelock enters the Lucknow Residency, 25th September —
Sir Colin Campbell approaches Lucknow, November — Slaughter
of rebels at the Sikandar Bagh, 16th November — BeKef and
withdrawal of the Lucknow garrison, 25th November — Wind-
ham at Cawnpore — Campbell comes to his rescue, 28th Novem-
ber— Rout of the Gwalior rebels, 6th December — Their pursuit
and dispersion, 9th December — Fresh victories under Osborne
and Stewart — Punishment of captured rebels — Canning's merci-
ful policy — Limited character of the rebellion — Good fruits of
Canning's interference — Progress of the English arms — Camp-
CONTENTS. xH
bell'fl second advance on Lucknow, 2nd March, 1858 — Final
capture of the city, 10th March — Death of Hodson and Peel —
English successes in Rohilkhand, May-June — Suppression of
revolt in Bahar — Re-conquest of all Audh, December — Pro-
gress of Tantia Topi, 1858 — Whitlock's successes in Bundal-
khand — Sir Hugh Rose in Central India — Capture of Gara-
kotah, 11th February — Storming of Chande'ri, 17th March —
Defeat of Tantia Topi at the Betwah, 1st April — Capture of
Jhansi, 3rd April — Defeat of the Rani at Kiinch, 7th May —
Capture of Kalpi by Sir H. Rose, 23rd May— Sindia'a flight
from Gwalior, 1st June — Re-capture of Gwalior by Sir H. Rose,
20th June — Rout of the rebels by Napier, 21st June — Review
of Sir H. Rose's achievements 361
Xlii HISTORY OF INDIA.
BOOK VII.
INDIA UNDER THE CROWN.
CHAPTER I.
LORD CANNING (^COJlcluded.)
State of affaire from June to December, 1858 — Captm-e and execu-
tion of Tilntia Topi, April, 1859 — Punishment of the eurviving
mutineers and leading rebels — Political extinction of the East
India Company, 2nd August, 1858 — New gOTemment of India
by the Crown — Pension voted to Sir John Lawrence — Last
words on the Company's rule — Gradual undermining of its
power — The new rule proclaimed throughout India, 1st Nov-
ember, 1868 — The hopes to which it gave birth — Honours and
rewards bestowed on the victors — The rewarding of loyal
natives — The new Legislative Council, 1S61 — Lord Canning's
" Sanads " — Amalgamation of Supreme and Sadr Courts, 1861
— Native judges admitted to the High Courts — Macaulay's
Penal Code made law, 1861 — Wilson's financial reforms, 1860
— Mr. Laing succeeds him — Riots in the Indigo districts,
1860-61 — Famine in Upper India, 1861 — Death of Colonel
Baird Smith — Great Darbar at Allahibad, November, 1861 —
The new Order of the Star of India — Lord Canning's retire-
ment, 1862 — His death and character — Progress of public
works — India's foreign trade — Commercial progress in Bom-
375
CHAPTER n.
LORD ELGIN AND SIR JOHN LAWRENCE, 1862 1869.
Lord Elgin Governor-General. 1862 — His jonmey through the upper
provinces, 1863 — His untimely death, 20th November, 1863 —
CONTENTS. Xliii
The Sit^a campaign, October — Critical position of our troops,
November — Sir W. Denison's timely interference — Storming of
Ambela, December — Destruction of Malka, and end of the war
— Sir John Lawrence Governor-General, January, 1864 — His
first Darbar at Labor, November, 1864 — Failure of Mr. Eden's
mission to Bhotan, I860 — War with Bhotan, November, 1864
— Its successful issue, 1865 — Waghir rising in Katiawar, 1868
Wylde's march to the Black Mountain, October — Napier's
Abyssinian campaign, 1868 — Death of Dost Mohammad, 1863
— Civil war between his sons — Sir John Lawrence's neutral
attitude — Shir Ali established at Kabul, December, 1868 —
India's internal progress — Growth of the cotton trade in
Western and Central India — The commercial crash in Bom-
bay, 1865 — Partial character of its etiects — Progress of the
Central Provinces under Sir R. Temple — British Burmah under
Sir Arthur Phayre — Progress in Audh — Tenant-rights secured
in Audh, 1866— The Panjab under Sir D. McLeod— The North-
western Provinces — Good effects of canal irrigation — The
famine in Orissa, 1866 — Great loss of life — Lord Napier at
Madras — Maisdr saved from famine, 1867 — Growth of India's
foreign trade — Increase of Indian revenues — Railways and
irrigation works — Building of banacks and fortified posts —
Sanitary improvements — Municipal committees first formed —
Reforms in the police and the jails — Progress of popular educa-
tion— Normal schools, and schools for girls — Native zeal for
education — The Indian Forest Department — First appointment
of a Cotton Commissioner — Progress of telegraphs — Trade
concessions of native rulera — Captain Sladen's mission to
Bhamo, 1868 — Retirement of Sir J. Lawrence, January, 1869
— His last measures — He obtains a peerage 382
CHAPTER m.
LORD MAYO AND LORD NORTHBROOK, 1869 1873.
The Earl of Mayo Governor-General, 1869 — His meeting with Shir
Ali, March — Its good results — Distress in Eajputana — The
Bardwan fever — Lord Mayo's retrenchments — The income-tax
doubled, October, 1869— Trebling of the tax, April, 1870— Its
mischievous effects — Popular outcry against it — Prince Alfred's
visit to Calcutta, December, 1869 — The great Calcutta Darbar
— The Prince's progress through India, 1870 — Opening of the
Jabalpur Railway, 7th March — Beginning of State railways —
Progress on the guai-antecd lines — Public works and education
xliv HISTORY OF INDIA.
— The new Department of Trade and Agricultore, 1870 — Coal-
mines in the Wardah Valley — Death of Sir Henry Durand,
January, 1871 — Loshai raid into Kachar — Expedition against
the Loshais, November — Its successful issue, February, 1872 —
Trial of Amir Khan, the Wahjibi — Kiika rising in Sirhind,
January, 1872— Its merciless suppression — Lord ilayo's Afghan
policy^-Settlement of the Khelit and Sistan botmdaries by Sir
F. Goldsmid — Lord Slayo's foreign policy — His treatment of
native feudatories — His energy and love of hard work — His
zeal for India's welfare — Progress of legislation — The Panjab
Tenancy Act — Indian Marriage Act — Coolie emigration — Road
and school cesses in Bengal — New rules for the Indian Coun-
cil, 1869 — New powers conferred on the local governments,
1871 — Lord Mayo's voyage to Rangoon and Maulmain, January,
1872 — He visits the Andaman Islands, February — His murder
by a convict, 8th February — The general sorrow in India for
his loss — Lord Napier acts in his stead — Lord Northbrook
Governor' General, May — His advice to the Khan of Khiva —
His tour through Upper and Western India — His careful study
of fiscal questions — Abolition of the income-tax, March, 1873 —
Settlement of the Afghan frontier — Lord Northbrook's dealings
with Shir Ali — Mr. Forsyth's mission to Kashgar — Sir Bartle
Frere's mission to Zanzibar, 1872 — The Sultan agrees to suppress
the slave-trade, 1873 — Lord Northbrook's administration — The
Parliamentary Committee on Indian Finance — Greneral outlook
in India, December, 1873 — Dark spots — Good results of English
rule — Its beneficial character in the present — Encouragement
of native efforts — India's moral progress — Influence of Chris-
tian ideas — Decline of old prejudices and customs — ^New social
movements 391
INTRODUCTION,
The empire now ruled by the Viceroy of India includes
not only the great Indian peninsula stretching under the
shadow of the Himalayas, from the valley of the Indus to
that of the Brahmaputra, but also the long strip of
country which borders the eastern shores of the Bay of
Bengal, from Arakan to the Malay peninsula. This vast
area of nearly 1,600,000 square mUes equals that of all
Europe outside Russia. From the northernmost comer of
the Panjab to Cape Comorin in the south its greatest
length is about 1,830 miles, whUe its breadth eastward
from Karachi, near the mouth of the Indus, to Rangoon on
the Irawadi, is even gi-eater. The great mountain-wall of
the Himalayas, which forms its northern boundary, curves
away from the Yang-tse river westward to the Hindu
Khush and the Sulaiman Hills, dividing India from Giina,
Tibet, and Turkistan. The Sulaiman and Hala ranges
shut out the Panjab and Sindh from their western neigh-
bours iu Afghanistan and Baluchistan. On the east the
Yomadung and Tenasserim ranges, carried on by the
Patkoi Hills to the Eastern Himalayas, mark oif the
western boundaries of Burmah and Siam. The whole
length of coast-line from Karachi to the southernmost
point of Tenasserim has been reckoned at nearly -1,000
miles, while the extent of land-frontier is some hundred
miles longer.
Xlvi HISTORY OF INDIA.
From the wild recesses of the towering Himalayas flow
down the sources of the great rivers, the Indus, the
Ganges, the Brahmaputra, which find their several outlets
in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Each of
them on its long course to the ocean is fed by numerous
streams, of a volume sometimes equalling its own. Two
nearly parallel ranges of hiUs, the Vindhya and the Sat-
piira, stretching eastward from the Gulf of Cambay to the
valley of the Lower Ganges, divide India itself into two
unequal parts, Southern India forming a kind of triangle
whose point is Cape Comorin, with the double line of
hUls aforesaid for its base. At its western end the
Vindhya range meets the Aravalli, a long, low chain of
hills sweeping north-eastward across Kajputana almost to
Dehli. In the east it merges into the highlands of Orissa,
Chota Nagpiir, and BLrbhiim. Again, from either end
two chains of hiUs, the Eastern and Western Ghats, pass
southwards at varying distances from the coast, to meet
at last in the Nilgiri or Blue Mountains of Malabar, and
to re-appear after a breach of twenty miles in the lofty
hills that border Travankor and touch the sea at Cape
Comorin. The Western Ghats are much higher than the
Eastern, and far more abrupt on their seaward face.
Their eastern ridges slope into the table-lands of the
Dakhan and Maisor, or serve as outworks to the loftier
Nilgiris, even as the lower Sewaiik range seiwes as an
outwork to the Himalayas between the Satlaj and the
Ganges.
From the wooded heart of the Vindhyas the Narbadha
winds along its rocky bed, past the rising city of Jabalpiir,
through several himdred miles of rock and forest, until it
reaches the Gulf of Cambay, below Baroch. Enclosed
between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges the Narbadha
valley separates Southern India from Hindustan- Proper.
The Tapti flows past the southern slopes of the Satpiiras
into the same gulf a little below Surat. The Godavari,
INTRODUCTION. xlvii
on the other hand, after leaving the Western Ghats neiir
Nasik, crosses the Nizam's dominions, and, swollen bj
many tributary streams, empties itself by several mouths
into the Bay of Bengal near Kokonada. The Kistna or
Krishna also flows from the Western Ghats near Mahab-
leshwar, eastward to the Coromandel coast, receiving on
its way the Bhima and the Tumbadra. India altogether
abounds in rivers great and small, four of which, including
the Irawadi, are more than a thousand miles long, while
three of those in Southern India exceed 800 miles. It
can boast, however, but few good harbours, chief among
which are Bombay, Rangoon, and Maulmain. Goa,
another good harbour, belongs to Portugal, and Karachi,
the port of Sindh, has yet to prove itself a worthy rival of
Bombay. Karwar, Cochin, and Viziadrug, would repay
the cost of improving them. The approach to Calcutta on
the HughU is rendered dangerous to large vessels by the
" WiUiam and Mary" shoal.
Of the few lakes which India possesses nearly all are
more or less salt. One of these, the great Ran of Cntch,
is 190 miles long, and varies in breadth from two to ninety
miles. In the dry season a waste of sand dotted with
pools of salt water, it becomes in the rainy season an
enormous marsh. From some of these lakes large quan-
tities of salt are manufactured. A long tract of desert
stretches from the southern border of Sindh to the northern
boundary of Rajputana. Nearly all the counti-y, indeed,
between the Indus and the Ai-avalli HUls is a waste of
sand, dotted with oases of varying size and fertility. The
prevalence of sand and saltpetre in the soil of Upper
India points to a time when all India north of the Vindhyas
lay buried in the sea, which washed the feet of the Himalayas
themselves. The fertile plains now watered by the Ganges
and its affluents must have been the work of ages, during
which the Himalayan rivers kept bringing down their
yearly loads of earth from the mountains to the sea. It
xlviii HISTORY OF INDIA.
appears that the Himalayas themselves, whose snowy peaks
now soar to a height ranging from 20,000 to 29,000 feet,
have gradually been upheaved by volcanic agency from
their ocean-beds.
A broad bolt of marshy jungle deadly to human life
divides these mountains from the adjacent plains. The
forests of this " Terai " afford ample means of smelting
the iron found on the lower slopes of the hills. Many
parts of India are rich in forest trees suited to almost
every purpose of use or ornament. The teak of British
Burmah, the Godavari valley, and Malabar ; the bamboo of
Kamaun, Bengal, and Southern India ; the pines and
deodars of the Himalayas ; the sal, ebony, and satin-wood
of Central India ; the sandal, iron, and blackwood of Kiirg,
Maisor, and other districts ; the oak and walnut-wood of
Sikhim ; the India-rubber tree of Assam ; the palm-trees
of the tropics, are far from exhausting the list. The noble
mango-groves of Hindustan give welcome shade to the
traveller weary with marching over miles of sun-burnt
plain, and the banyan-tree of Bengal grows into a forest by
throwing out new roots from its spreading branches.
Cottages are thatched with palm-leaves, and houses built
with scaffolding made of bamboos. Cocoa-nut fibre makes
excellent rigging, and cocoa-nut oil is highly prized for
lamps. Bamboo fibre serves for mats and baskets ; a
bamboo stem yields the lightest of lance-shafts, while one
of its joints does good duty for a bottle. Most of the
houses in British Burmah are built entirely of wood.
From the sap of the palm-tree is brewed the tari or toddy
which forms a favourite drink among certain classes.
Another kind of palm yields the betel-nut, which natives of
every class and both sexes delight to chew. The sal and
deodar are largely used for railway sleepers, and in dis-
tricts where coal is very costly forest timber serves as fuel
for steamers and railway trains.
All over India there are two harvests yearly; in some
INTRODUCTION.
xHs
places tkree. Bajra, jowar, rice, and some other grains
are sown at the beginning and reaped at the end of the
rainy season. The cold weather crops, including wheat,
barley, and some other kinds of grain and pulse, are reaped
in the spring. It is a vulgar fallacy that the people of
India hve on rice. The very opposite notion would be
nearer the truth. Rice is grown mainly in the moist cli-
mate of Bengal, British Burmah, the Kankan, and Malabar'.
In Hindustan and the Panjab the staple food is wheat and
millet ; in the Dakhan a poor kind of grain called ragi.
Berar, Khandesh, and Gujarat yield ample crops of cotton.
The home of the sugar-cane is in Rohilkhand and Madras.
The poppy-fields of Malwa and Bengal yield the opium
which swells the Indian revenue by more than seven mil-
lions a-year. Indigo and jute are mainly raised in Bengal.
Coffee has become the staple product of the hill districts
in Kurg, Wynaad, and the Nilgh-is. The tea-gardens of
Assam, Kachar, Silliet, and the southern slopes of the
Himalayas from Kangra to Darjiling, furnish much of the
tea which now finds its way to English markets. The
quinine-yielding cinchona is gi-owu in even larger forests
on the Nilgiri and Daijiling Hills. Another medicinal
plant of great value, the ipecacuanha, bids fair to thrive in
the Sikhim Terai. Cardamoms and pepper abound along
the Western Ghats, hemp and linseed are largely exported,
and tobacco is widely gi-own throughout India.
Of fruits and vegetables there is no lack. Mangoes,
melons, pumpkins, guavas, custard-apples, plantains,
oranges, limes, citrons, and pomegranates, are common
everywhere ; figs, dates, and grapes thrive well in many
places ; and the pine-apple grows wild in British Burmah.
Cucumbers, yams, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and many
vegetables familiar to English palates, are raised abund-
antly for general use. Flowers of every shape and hue,
and often of the richest scent, from the rose and jasmine
to the oleander and the water-lily, spangle the plains,
d
1 HISTORY OF INDIA.
cover tlie surfaces of lakes and ponds, or glimmer in
climbing beauty among the woods. The rhododendrons
of the Himalayas grow like forest trees, and crown the
hill-side in April and May with far-spreading masses of
crimson blossoms. From the rose-gardens of Ghazipur is
extracted the attar, a few drops of which contain the
gathered fragrance of a thousand flowers.
The jungles teem with elephants, bears, wild buffaloes,
tigers, leopards, panthers, and hyaenas. Wolyes and jackals
prowl among the ravines in quest of deer and other prey.
The hon is chiefly to be found in the wilds of Rajputana and
Gujarat ; the camel in the sandy regions of the North
West ; the one-homed rhinoceros among the swamps of
the Ganges. Deer of many kinds aboimd everywhere.
Snakes, poisonous and harmless, haunt the jungles and
other lonely places. Wild boars are common. Monkeys
abound in most parts of the country. The rivers swarm
with fish, and aUigators bask like huge lizards along their
banks. Horses and ponies of divers breeds are used
chiefly for riding, while the fields are ploughed and the
carts and carriages of the country are drawn by bullocks of
the Brahmani type. In many parts of India oxen still
serve as earners of merchandise. Buffaloes are usually
kept for milk and ploughing. Sheep and goats are very
common, and the Shal goat of Kashmir suppUes the soft
pashmina of which Indian shawls and other articles of
clothing are made.
The woods re-echo with the harsh cry of the peacock and
the hvely chattering of parrots, woodpeckers, and other
birds of gay plumage ; to say nothing of various birds
common to India and the West. Eagles and falcons are
found in some places ; kites, vultures, and crows abound
everywhere. The gi-eat adjutant stork of Bengal plays
the part of a scavenger in the most populous cities.
Pheasants, partridges, ortolans, quails, snipes, and wild-
geese tempt the sportsman at certain seasons. The sparrow
njTBODUCTION. U
has followed the Englishman into the Himalayas. In one
thing, however, India is sadly wanting : the voice of song-
birds is almost everywhere mute.
India is fairly rich in minerals of various kinds. Her
old wealth in diamonds, rubies, and other gems has well-
nigh passed away ; but of less valuable stones, such as opals,
amethysts, garnets, jaspers, cornelians, she still yields a
goodly shai-e. Gold in small quantities may be found in
the gravels of many streams. Silver combined with lead
exists in the mines of Kulu on the northern frontier of the
Panjab. Lead mines have been opened in the north-
western Himalayas Kich veins of tin have lately been
discovered in Tenasserim and Martaban. Antimony and
copper abound in the hiU ranges. Petroleum is known to
exist in Pegu and Assam. Vast beds of rock-salt occur in
the Panjab hUls. The mountains of Southern India are
largely composed of granite, while excellent marble is
quarried from the AravaUi range.
L-on ores have been found in many parts of the country,
notably in Kamaun, Bundalkhand, the Central Provinces,
and Lower Bengal. In the Chanda district the surface of
a hiU two miles long and half-a-roile broad is covered with
masses of pure iron ore. The iron beds in the Kamaun
hiUs extend for miles, and the clay of the Damiida
coal-fields contains 39 per cent, of iron. From the growing
scarcity of charcoal for smelting purposes the native manu-
facture of iron is fast declining, and the attempts of
EngUshmen in the same field have hitherto been baflled by
the same and other causes. A substitute for charcoal,
however, may yet be found in coal, large beds of which
extend from Rajmahal on the Ganges south to the Goda-
vari, and from the neighbourhood of Calcutta westward to
the Narbadha valley. The coal-bearing rocks of the
Damiida valley, covering 1,500 square miles of ground,
contain thick seams of coal, whose yield already amounts
to half-a-million tons a year. From the Kurhurbari
\i2
lii HISTORY 01- INDIA.
coal-fields north-westward of Raniganj half that quantity
could he supplied for 800 years. There are thick seams
of coal in the Narhadha valley. On the edge of the great
sandstone tract watered by the Godavari and the Warda
some promising beds have lately been examined ; and
over wide spaces in Berar and the Central Provinces seams
of great thickness, and of a quality good enough for
railway purposes, give fair promise of vast additions to
India's store of fuel. The easternmost end of Assam also,
where the Brahmaputra emerges from the hills into the
forest-clad wilds of Dibrugarh, contains several seams of
excellent coal.
According to the census of 1872, British India, as apart
from the tributary native states, now contains an aggregate
population of about 192 million souls, of whom about
two-thu'ds live by husbandry alone. Of this vast number,
excelled only by the population of China, nearly 67
millions are claimed for Bengal Proper and Assam, with
an average density of 290 to the square mUe over an area
of more than 240,000 square mUes. With due allowance
for the thinly peopled districts of Assam and Chota
Nagpur, the average for the older provinces, including
Orissa, may be taken at 360 to the square mile. IS Orissa
be excluded, it ranges from 430 in Bengal Proper to 465
in Bahar.
In the North-Western Provinces there are 30J millions of
people spread over a surface of about 81,000 square miles,
or Uttle less than the whole area of England, Wales, and
Ireland. To each square mile we have therefore an
average of 380 souls, which exceeds that of Great Britain.
The average for Audh, with about 11} millions to an area
of nearly 24,000 square miles, about the extent of Holland
and Belgium together, equals that of Bahar. The Panjab,
including Kashmir and Sirhind, covers an extent of more
than 200,000 square miles, a surface equal to that of
France. About half of this, however, belongs to native
INTRODUCTION. lii'l
rulers. The remainder contains a total of more than 17i
million souls, at an average of 173 to the square mile.
In British Burmah some 2^ million people are scattered
over an area of 93,664 square miles. Madras shows a
population of about 31 1 millions, covering a surface of
141, 7-46 square miles, a good deal larger than the whole
of the British Islands. The 29,000 square mOes of
Maisor and Kiirg contain about 51 million souls. Bombay,
including Sindh, counts rather more than 14 millions on
127,532 square mOes. The Central Provinces show an
area of about 84,000 square miles, peopled by rather more
than 9 million souls, while Berar contains nearly 2^
millions over a space of about 17,000 square mOes. To
these 192 millions must be added some 48 million people"
ruled by about two hundred chiefs and princes, great and
small, whose joint possessions cover an area of more than
half-a-miUion square miles from Kashmir to Travankor.
Of the people ruled directly by the Indian Government
some 130 millions are Hindus by religion, and several mil-
lions more are probably Hindus by race. The Mohammadans
of all races, Aryan, Semitic, and Mongol, may be reckoned
at 40 milhons, most of whom profess the Siini or Turkish
form of Islam. The Shia sect are chiefly to be found iu
the Dakhan and Kashmir. In Bengal the Mohammadans
exceed 2,0h millions, the great bulk of whom are to be
found in the Central and Eastern districts as husbandmen
or landholders, while comparatively few inhabit the old
centres of Mohammadan power. In Bengal, as in Kashmir,
the Mohammadan numbers seem to be largely swelled by
former converts from among the low-caste Hindus. In
the Panjab there are 9^ million, in the North- Western
Provinces about 41 miUion followers of Islam. In Audh
they number only a million, and iu the Central Provinces
barely a quarter of that amount. In the Panjab, on the
* These numbers, however, must be taken provisionally, as founded
on guess work rather than accurate data.
liv niSTOEY Of IN'DIA.
other hand, there arc 9 million Mohammadans to G million
Hindus, and little more than a million Sikhs. More
than 2 million people in British Burmah are Buddhists.
The aboriginal or prehistoric races scattered everywhere
among the hills and forests are supposed to number about
12 millions, a fifth of whom people the highlands of the
Central Provinces, whUe perhaps as many more are found
in Malwa and Kiindesh. In the hUls of Orissa, Chota
Nagpur, Birbhiim, Assam, and Kachsir, they are also
numerous. The Jains, an offshoot from Buddhism,
number only a few hundred thousand. The Parsis,
descendants of Persian Fire-worshippers, if few in num-
bers, fill a front place in the commercial doings of Western
India. Christians of all sects and races may be set down
at a niUlion and a quarter, the great bulk of whom are
Roman Catholics, owing allegiance to the Archbishop of
Goa.
In a country which extends from the eighth to the
thirty-fifth degree of north latitude the climate varies, not
only with the differences of relative position, but with
those also of local surface and surroundings. The dry
heats of the Upper Provinces differ from the moist heats
of Bengal and part of Southern India as a furnace diflers
from a vapour-bath. There are large tracts of country in
Sindh, the Panjab, and Rajpntana, where rain seldom falls,
and the thermometer rises to 120° in the shade. In the
North-Western Provinces and Gujarat the rainfall varies
from 15 to 30 inches, most of it falling in about thi-ee
months. A zone of light rainfall passes down the middle
of Southern India. The eastern coast is generally hotter
and drier than the western, which receives the full force of
the south-west monsoon from June to September. From the
Brahmaputra valley down to Maulmain the heat in these
months is greatly tempered by heavy and continuous rains,
which fall in some places to a depth of more than a
hundi-ed inches, and convert the country into a sea studded
INTRODUCTION.
h
with islands. In the Ivhasia Hills 600 inches of rain have
been measured in the year. In Lower Bengal and Orissa
the rain-swoUen rivers flood the country far and wide.
On the table-lands of the Dakhan and Central India hot
days are followed by cool nights. Along the lofty slopes
of the Himalayas and the wood-crowned ridges of the
Nilgiris, the rain pours heavily with few intervals for
several months. Along the coast sea-breezes also serve to
temper the heat. Over the sandy plains of Northern
India the day west wind blows from March to the middle
of June with the fury of a sirocco, relieved at times by a
simoom or sandstorm, which turns day into night for an
hour or more, and cools the air for some days afterwards.
From July to October the showers in these regions are
followed by intervals of close, steamy heat, which finally
give place to three or four months of clear, cool, bright
weather, with frequent frost at night, and mornings often
cold enough for a fii'e. In the hill-stations, where the
summer heat is generally moderate, the resemblance to an
English winter is heightened by frequent falls of snow.
Within the tropics, on the other hand, the cold season,
except on some of the higher mountains, answers on the
whole to a mild September in our own country.
The languages and dialects used or spoken in India
exceed in number and variety those of all Europe. The
Aryan languages take the lead by right of then- wide
prevalence. Of the dialects which have gi-own out of the
parent Sanskrit there are at least a dozen separate forms,
of which Hindi, the most purely Aryan, and Urdu, the
mixed language of the law-courts and the public services,
are the most widely used. Each of the gi'eat provinces in
Upper and Western India has its own dialect, which
differs from the rest much as English differs from German
or Swedish. In Southern India the Dravidian languages,
such as Tamil and Telugii, which belong in the main to
some old non-Aryan type, are spoken by about thirty
Ivi HISTORV OF rXDIA.
million people. In the Himulayan valleys, in British
Burmah, and on the eastern frontier of Bengal, some form
of Indo-Chinese or Mongol speech is generally spoken.
Arabic, the language of the Koran, and Persian, the
language of Moghal state officers and Anglo-Indian law-
eou]-ts in former days, have enriched the Urdii of our day
with a large stock of serviceable words and phrases.
HISTORY OF INDIA.
BOOK I.
INDIA BEFORE THE MOHAMMADAN CONQUEST.
CHAPTER I.
THE AEYAN HINDUS.
The circumstances which mark the rise and progi-ess of
England's empire in Southern Asia have no precise pa-
rallel in any other page of the world's known history.
Nowhere else has the world beheld so strange aud fruitful
an outcome from beginnings apparently so small. Mace-
don, Rome, Arabia, have each in its turn made mighty
conquests in a wonderfully short space of time. The
Spaniards, in the course of one or two generations, be-
came masters of half the New World. The hordes of
Tamerlane, issuing from Samarkhand, overran Asia in
a few years. In our own century half Eui'ope bowed her
head for a season at the feet of the First Napoleon. India
herself for more than two hundred years obeyed successive
kings of the house of Babar. In all these cases either the
ground won at first by force of arms was speedily lost
again, or else its further retention was mainly due to the
settlements founded thereon by the conquerors themselves.
2 HISTORY OF INDIA.
British India alono presents the spectacle of a vast do-
minion conquered during the last hundred years by the
servants of a trading company, whose one great aim was
to increase its dividends, and upheld by a few thousand
Engl'.shmen encamping in the midst of more than two
hundred million natives. Nowhere else has so wide a
sway over so many populous and civilised states been
wielded with a grasp so firm by a mere handful of fo-
reigners, strange alike in speech, manners, religion, sent
forth from one of the coldest to one of the hottest quarters
of the earth, and debarred by causes more or less invin-
cible from founding families of their own or of a mixed
blood in a climate peculiarly hurtful to English Life.
How much of the seeming marvel sprang from sources
in no way marvellous, the following pages may help to
show. For that end it will not be enough to begin with
the first days of British settlement in India. The true
way to a clear understanding of later events leads far back
through the Christian centuries into the twilight of pre-
historic times. There is no real break in Indian history
from the era of the Vedas until now. For all the changes
that have been wrought by time and circumstance, the
India of to-day reproduces in its main outlines the India
of twenty or thirty centui-ies ago. Out of the two hundred
and forty millions who directly or indirectly obey our rule,
more than a half may claim descent from those Aryan
conquerors who, long before Hellas defied the Persian,
were pushing the earlier races of Hindustan back into
those sheltering hills and forests where their descendants
may still be found.* The history of that olden civilisation
has been written for us, not in chronicles like those which
form the boast of Mohammadan India, but in the sacred
* The d:ite of the events apparently recorded in the oldest Hindu
epic, the Eiimayan, is placed by Sir W. Jones in the 21st, by Tod in
the 12th, and by Bentley in the 10th century before Christ.— Griffith's
" Kamayan," translated into English verso.
THE ARYAN HINDUS. '3
writings of Sanskrit-speaking Hindus, and in poems which
pourtray the social Ufe of pre-historic India as vividly as
Homer pourtrayed the social life of pre-historic Greece.
From the Vedas, or religious hymns of the Brahmans, we
learn what faiths were held, what gods were worshipped,
what rites practised by the Aryan conquerors of Ancient
India. The oldest Vedas, older by several centuries than
the Homeric poems,* reveal to modern scholars the poetic
sources of that purely natural worship which marks the
childhood of all human races. They are full of the life-
like symbolism in which imaginative minds love to embody
their impressions of the outer world. They sing the
praises of the "Deva," the bright divinities of Sun and
Dawn, of Fire, Storm, Earth, and Sky. In them all
nature is divine. Surya, the Sun-god, his car drawn by
shining steeds, dispels the darkness, hurries after the
Dawn as lover after love-maiden, and sheds light, health,
and every blessing on all the world. " Let us meditate,"
says one famous verse, " on the desii-able light of the
divine Sun, who influences our pious rites."
Dyaus and Prithivi, Heaven and Earth — the Zeus and
Demeter of the Greek Pantheon — are invoked as the
great, wise, energetic parents of all the other gods. Aditi,
" mother of the gods," stands one while for the sky, anon
for the whole universe, and at times for something distinct
from either. Ushas, the Dawn, the Homeric 'Heir, har-
nesses her pm-ple oxen, caUing all sleeping things to new
life, enjoyment, or exertion, and sending her rays abroad
like cattle to their pasture. Agni, the god of fij-e, the
Latin Ignis, is a dear friend, who sits in the sacrificial
chamber, diffusing happiness, like a benevolent man
* The true date of the Rig-Veda, or " Book of Praise," the oldest of
the four Vedas, is still a moot question. It is safe, however, to assume,
with Dr. Max MUller, on evidence of a very strong kind, that these
old hymns and prayers, written in the oldest forms of a language pro-
bably older than that of ancient Greece, were composed between l.^Ou
and l,50o years before Clirist.
b2
4 HISTORY OF INDIA.
among manldnd. Indra, the son of Dyaus and Pritbivi,
is the far-darting Apollo of the Vedas, the god of storms
and rain, who rends the clouds asunder, gives vent to the
showers, and frees the obstructed streams. He is invoked
as the Lord of Steeds, victorious in battle, whom neither
earth nor heaven can contain. His horses are the scud
that denotes the coming tempest. In his chariot rides
Vayu or Viita, the rushing wind ; he delights in drinking
the sacred soma juice ; * and the Maruts or storm-winds
are his children, at whose approach earth trembles like a
storm-di-iven boat, and in whose car ride the young light-
nings. Varuna, the Vedic 'Ovpavos, represents the infinite
wonder of the sky. He is the god who upholds order,
who knows the place of the bu'ds, the ships on tho waters,
the months of the year, and the track of the winds.
In this old Vedic Pantheon no one god is raised, Uke
the Hellenic Zeus, to permanent kingship over the rest.
Each stands for the moment highest in the minds of his
own worshippers. " Among you, 0 gods," says Manu,
" there is none that is smaU, none that is young ; you are
aU great indeed." To each is offered his befitting sacri-
fice, each is marked off by his peculiar symbols ; and
symbol and sacrifice, both in their turn, come to be wor-
shipped as divine. "We have later hymns in honour of the
horse, dear to Indra ; of the ox or cow, that universal
blessing to men who Uve by the plough ; of the ladle and
the post used for sacrifice ; and of the soma plant, which
yields a nectar beloved of the gods. To the Kishis, or
bards who composed the Vedas, f all things appear divine,
as symbols or expressions of the one supreme indwelling
* The soma plant of the Vedas was the Asckpias acida of Koxbnrgh,
now known as the twisting sarkostema, a twining plant with few leaves,
and with clusters of small white fragrant flowers. It yields a mild,
acid, milky juice, and grows in various parts of India.
t The Sanskrit " Veda" means '-what is known "; from the eame old
Aryan root as Greek a'&a ; Latin vidio, votes ; German tcissen ; Old-
English ititan (to wit, or weet) ; and the old Norse " Edda."
THE AEYAN HINDUS. 0
soul that quickens, moulds, and cberislies all alike. Sun,
moon, and stai's, the changes of night and day, the recur-
rence of the seasons, the trees,. the flowers, the streams,
the very means and processes of new growth, are clothed
by these worshippers of nature with a divinity not their
own. In the world's childhood " Heaven Kes about them,"
as it lies about thoughtful children in all ages. They read
the riddle of the universe with the eyes of poets whose
natural language is that of worship. To them aU life is a
sacred mystery, an infinite marvel, to be studied only in
a spirit of child-like thankfulness and pious awe. From
glorifying the life around them they come in time to con-
template the life within, to speak of right and wrong, to
yeam after union with the Immortal Being. In the later
Vedas the troubled soul seeks closer communion with the
Unseen Spu-it ; it expresses sorrow and implores forgive-
ness for its sins ; it gives new names to the mysterious
Power or Self which out of nothing evolved aU things, and
through which the good man's soul will find sure rest for
ever beyond the grave.
Inevitably there comes a time when the purer faith of
an earlier day hardens into a fixed system of mythologic
ritual, even as the simple Christianity of Paul and Peter
grew into the elaborate fetishism of mediaeval Rome. The
poetic gods of the old Pantheon are replaced by the mystic
trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva — the Maker, Pre-
server, and Destroyer — round whom revolve a host of
smaller deities, whose numbers gi-ow and whose featm-es
wax coarse with years. A race of philosophers and trained
priests obscures the old imagery of the Vedic bards with
the metaphysic subtleties of the Upanishads, the fantastic
trifling of the Sutras and the Vedanta, and in time with
the puerile gi-ossness of the Puranas.* Old forms, sym-
* The Upanishads were a kind of supplement to the Vedas ; the
Sutras were collections of philosophic aphoiisms ; the Vedanta, from
ctda and anta, end, were commentaries enforcing the purpose of the
O HISTORY OF INDIA.
bols, and figures of speech lose their old meaning ; the
attributes of godhead become distinct gods ; the dim
shapes of poetic fancy reappear as the sharply-defined
conceptions of an abstruse theology, or translate them-
selves into the uncouth, unmeaning objects of popular
idol- worship.
Against this lower tendency Buddhism sprang up as a
powerful but fleeting protest about the end of the sixth
century before Christ. It was then that the royal Sakya
Miini first preached a return to the purer doctrines which
centuries of priestly rule and popular delusion had buried
under a rank growth of debasing errors. Of this reformer
— whose creed, if banished from its old birth-place at the
foot of the Nipalese Hills, has since become the rehgion
of nearly a third of the human race — not much is known
for certain ; and some years ago the very fact of his exist-
ence was called in question by one of the foremost San-
skrit scholars of oui- time. In spite, however, of Professor
Wilson's doublings, there is reason to believe that Sakya
Miini, afterwards more widely known as Buddha or The
Enlightened, came of a race of kings who ruled at Kapi-
lavastu, north of the modern Audh ; that having long sat
at the feet of the Brahman sages in Magadha, or Bahar,
and at Banaras, the Oxford of ancient India, he went forth
with a fevf disciples to preach a purer gospel in Magadha,
under the protection of its friendly king. The story of
his after wanderings has been so beclouded with fable that
time would only be wasted in trying to pick out the grain
from the chaff. Before his death, however, the princely
ascetic, whose own life and doctrines were in open revolt
from the debased religion, the pharisaic pride, and the
social tyranny of the old Brahmanic order, had sown far
and wide the seeds of a reaction, whose influence for
Vedas ; and the Puranas, from purdna, old, embodied the whole round
of lefrends, ritual, and philosophy, which had grown out of the Tedanta
into the shape they first assumed about the ninth century of our era.
THE AEYAN HINDUS. «
mingled good and eyil may stUl be found working in at
least one province of British India, Burmah, in one
British colony, Ceylon, which was governed for a short
time from British India, and among the numerous sect
of Jains, who in various parts of India blend somewhat
of old Buddhist traditions with the creeds and practices of
modern Brahmanism.
Himself a prince of the Kshatriya or warrior caste,
Sakya Mimi held out the hand of fehowship to men of all
castes and classes alike. Brahman and Sudra, priest,
prince, and artisan, were all equal in his eyes. Breaking
through the bonds of a religious system which had come
to bring all things and beings under the yoke of an all-
powerful priesthood, he strove to make men holy by teach-
ing them to live pure and holy lives. Instead of sacrifices
and severe penances he exhorted them to sin no more, to
love one another, to forgive insults, to return good for evil,
to bear patiently the ills of this hfe, to wage ceaseless war
with their own lower natures. Life, he maintained, was
full of sorrow, and the path to happiness could only be
gained by mortifying the natural affections and desires
wherein lie the sources of that sorrow. All wtue and
well-being, in short, were summed up by Sakya Miini in
love and self-control. What else he may have taught,
beyond the religious teaching of the Vedas and the meta-
physics of their Brahman interpreters, remains for the
most part an open question. That he aimed, for instance,
at finding some new way of escape for the soul of man
from its supposed liabihty to enter into new shapes of men
and animals for evermore,* is a likely, if not quite a
necessary inference, from the doctrines afterwards preached
in his name. But modern scholars are still disputing
whether the " Nirvana," to which it is the highest bUss of
the devout Buddhist to attain, means utter extinction or
* The metempsychosis, or transmigi'ation of Bovls, was among the
oldest tenets of Hindu philosophy.
M HISTORY OF INDIA.
the calm that comes of absorption into tlie supreme
soul.*
Be that as it may, we may hold it for certain that
Buddha himself, like other great reformers, laid chief
stress on that part of his teaching which would appeal
most strongly to the popular heart. Some kind of hope
for a happier future must have lain at the bottom of a
religious movement which proclaimed the nothingness of
human joys, and the need of deliverance from human ills
and weaknesses. The idea of eternal rest beyond the
grave would at any rate for the multitude mean something
very diflerent from titter annihilation ; even as to the
Buddhists of modern Burmah, Nirvana means simple free-
dom from old age, disease, and death.
In due time the new revolt fi-om caste-rules and Brah-
manic traditions made its way over India and the neigh-
boming countries. Asoka, grandson of that king Chan-
dragupta,t to whose court at the capital of Bahar Seleucus
Nicator sent an envoy about 820 b.c, became the Con-
stantine of the new creed. In his reign Buddhism spread
over the whole of Northern and much of Southern India.
The stone pillars that mark his sway and still bear his
edicts carved on their face, in characters first deciphered
by Mr. James Prinsep, may still be traced from Bengal to
the heart of Afghanistan. A great council held by him
in 308 B.C., or as others reckon in 286 b.c, decreed the
sending forth of missions to all the chief countries beyond
India. In the &st century of the Christian era Buddhism,
ha\ing already struck firm root in Burmah, Ceylon, Java,
Tibet, and Kashmir, was declared by a Chinese emperor
worthy to take equal rank before the state with the re-
ligions of Confucius and Lao-tse. Losing its olden sim-
plicity as its followers gi-cw in numbers, it gathered
* Hay we not assume that Buddha, as an ascetic, meant by Nirvana
something akin to self-denial or self-control ?
t The Sandiacottus of Greek historians.
THE AKTAN HINDUS. U
strength from the very process of change and corruption
which transformed its founder into its god and its yery
priests into heaven-bom popes. Its temples were filled
with images of the prince who had waged war against idol-
worship, and its moral beauty was gradually marred by
childish or grotesque superstitions, which culminated in
the praying wheels and the deified Lamas or high-priests
of Tibet. In spite, however, of the changes wrought by
time and circumstance, Buddha's spii-it still Hves in the
rehgion that bears his name; his moral teachings still
form the rule of conduct for millions of his present wor-
shippers ; and the yellow-robed monks of Burmah still
hold out to every Burman child such means of leai-ning
to read, write, and cipher, as the bulk of our EngUsh
children are only just beginning to enjoy.
In India the new religion seems never to have quite
supplanted the old. For centuries they held between them
a divided sway, each in its turn gaining or losing ground
with the rise and fall of successive dynasties. At length
came the inevitable conflict which ended by uprooting
Buddhism from its very birth-place in favour of a rehgious
system still dear to the bulk of modem Hindus. The
stem simplicity of Sakya Muni's teaching had probably
few abiding charms for his lively, sensuous, subtle-minded
country-folk. Spht up into opposing sects, the later
Buddhists seem to have further weakened their cause
by vain paltering with the popular taste for show and
superstition. The old caste-system which Buddha had
sought to demolish, lent all its renewed strength to the
Brahmanic reaction. From about the fifth to the tenth
century of our era the long strife raged, until throughout
all India Proper nothing was left of Buddhism but the
grand old halls and temples which attest its former
prevalence, and the mixture of Buddhist and Brahmanic
usage which stiU marks the worship of the modem
Jains.
10 HISTORY OK INDIA.
Upon the Institutes of Manu,* the Minos of Aryan
India, and the philosophic systems spun out of the Vedas
by successive schools of Hindu thinkers, the victorious
Brahmans built up the social and rehgious fabric of modern
Hinduism. Every nation has its mythical lawgiver, its
Minos or its Lycurgus, in whom it finds the sources of its
social and political growth. Manu, the Adam or first man
of the Aryan race, had given his name to a code of laws
and customs compiled about 900 years before Christ by
certain of the M:'mavas, the oldest Aryan settlers in Upper
India, who dwelt between the Satlaj and the " divine Sa-
ras wati." Their chief city, Hastinapur, the abode of the
legendary King Bharat, renowned in old Hindu poetry, lay
in Sirhiud, to the north-east of the modern Meerut, and
their settlements ere long covered the whole ground be-
tween the Ganges and the Indus. These were the men
who founded that village-system and drew up those caste-
rules by which Indian society is still in some measure kept
from falling to pieces. Each village or township became
the centre of a little commonwealth, governed in the king's
name by a head-man of the conquering race, with the help
of a council of its own house-fathers, or heads of families.
Acting under these were a staff of village officers, main-
tained for various purposes at the common cost. Each
village kept its own registrar, its own watchman, barber,
schoolmaster, washerman, goldsmith, wheelwright. Every
house-father obeyed the common laws and usages ex-
pounded or enforced by the village coimeU ; but within
his own household he reigned supreme as any Roman
father in the days of the Republic. Over the lands within
and around his township his control was much more
* Manu, the first man of the Sanskrit-speaking Hindus, is the same
word as Gothic maunv^, German vmnn and jmnsch, English man, and
Welsh mynw. It comes from the same root as Sanskrit mdna, to
think, mann^, the mind (Latin mens), and perhaps German mtinung,
" meaning."
THE ARYAN HINDUS.
11
bounded. If, as head of a family, he might claim all but
free and full ownership of the fields originally allotted to
his family, the rest of bis holdings belonged collectively
to the whole village, and could only be used by him under
certain fixed conditions. He had to sow the same crops
as his neighbours, to let certain fields lie fallow in fixed
succession, and to respect the right of other households to
pasture their cattle on the fallow or stubble land. Each
village, moreover, was fully equipped with tradesmen,
artisans, and so forth, whose relative place in the little
commonwealth was determined by their several pursuits.
In the code of Manu all those members of the Aryan
village community are arranged into four separate classes
or " colom-s," each governed by its own usages and fenced
off by strict rules and duties from every other. First
come the Brahmans, the hereditary priests, the Levites of
Arj-an India, who sprang, says later tradition, from the
head of Brahma himself, and whose time-hallowed rights
were carefully guarded from all profane encroachments by
the teaching of those holy books whose meaning they
alone could rightly interpret. At once the religious and
social leaders of their day, they found in the popular
reverence for their order a wiUing accomplice in the build-
ing-up of a caste-system for which no real sanction can be
found in the hymns of Vedic seers, nor in any writings
earlier than Manu's code — itself the forged title-deeds of a
class ah-eady supreme among their countrymen, by right
of their general usefulness, their higher culture, and per-
haps their purer lives. So firmly was their power esta-
blished, that to kill a Brahman was accounted the worst of
crimes, and to injure, or even insult him, a grievous
outrage. No Brahman could wholly forfeit his divine
birthright, nor could even kings take rank with Brah-
mans, the favoured childi-en of the gods. To honour or
befriend one of the heaven-born race was enough atone-
ment for almost any crime. It was forbidden by the laws
12 HISTORY OF INDIA.
of Manu to take from a Brahman borrower more than two
per cent., or half the interest that might be taken from a
merchant. A Brahman might not stoop to trade or to earn
money by other than purely intellectual pursuits ; but he
was always free to accept alms in food or money for the
due performance of his priestly duties.
Nest to the Brahmans in the social order of Manu, ranks
the Kshatriya or soldier class. To this belonged most of
the princes and nobles of Aryan India ; and the Rajput
tribes of modern India claim to be the purest living speci-
mens of a class which seems once to have fought hard for
social lordship with their Brahman rivals. Of the thu-d,
or Vaisya class, tillage, trade, banking, law, and medicine,
were the chief pursuits, in most of which a very high
degree of excellence had been already reached when the
laws of Manu were first issued. These three classes em-
braced all men of Aryan race. To Brahman, Kshatriya,
and Vaisya alike belonged the proud title of "twice-born"
and the right of wearing the sacred thread. In the fourth,
or Sudra class, wore comprehended all the " low-born,"
the people of mixed caste or of non-Aryan blood, who
followed trades and callings forbidden to the twice-born,
or belonged by birth to any of the subject races. No
Sudra was allowed to read the Vedas, to eat or intennarry
with any member of a higher caste, or even to sit upon
the same mat with a Brahman.
In course of time the system thus sanctioned by a
mythical lawgiver, in behalf at once of an aggressive
priesthood and a conqueiing race, vmderwent some note-
worthy changes. Shattered, if not efRiced by succeeding
waves of Buddhism, it reappeared dm-ing the Christian
centuries in a new and far more complex shape. Out of
the four great castes there had grown some hundi'eds.
The old sharp di\isions of birth and calling had well-nigh
vanished. Race no longer determined a man's pursuits.
The Brahman ceased to be a bom priest. In the struggle
THE ARY-VN HINDUS.
13
for life, he and the lowly Sudra not seldom changed
places, while both alike invaded the old domains of the
soldier and the husbandman. Sudra dynasties ruled the
land ; Sudra priests sacrificed in the holy places ; Sudra
soldiers fought by the side of Brahmans and Kajputs ;
Sudra merchants, bankers, landholders, physicians, were
held in equal honour with the Vaisyas, whose place they
gradually filled. It was accounted no shame for a Brah-
man to cook the dinner of a wealthy Sudra, to become a
clerk in a public oflice, to follow the standard of a Sudra
captain, or to earn a Uvelihood by managing a farm. He
might still, like a modern Polish noble, carry his head
high among men of his own caste ; but in the outer world
his social importance came more and more to depend upon
his worldly circumstances. As a priest or a Pandit he
still enjoyed all the reverence which Hindus are wont to
pay to their spiritual and intellectual guides. As a soldier
or a merchant he continued to rank fii'st among followers
of the same calling. But a wealthy Sudra merchant or
landholder paid small deference to the twice-born clerk
who wrote his letters, or to the high-caste menial who
prepared his food.
The Brahmans themselves branched off into a number
of separate castes, each bound by its own rules, and few
of them either claiming or conceding the right to eat or
inteiTuarry with any other. Alongside the old caste of
birth and political standing there grew up also the caste
of creeds and occupations ; and the two processes got to
be so intermingled that it is often hard to distinguish
between them. Each group of persons following the same
trade or calling in the same neighbourhood formed itself
into a separate guild or brotherhood, held together by
rules that often diflered from those of corresponding guilds
elsewhere. Like the trade-guilds of mediseval Europe
and the trade unions of our own day, these Indian brother-
hoods fenced themselves round with a network of moral
14 HISTORY OF INDIA.
and social observances, through whose meshes no one
could break without risk of social outlawry. A kind of
religious sanction was impressed on these rules by the
priests or elders empowered to interpret and enforce them.
The innate Hindu craving for self-government under strict
conditions was carried down into the lowest circles and
the smallest details of social life. The very Pariahs and
utter outcasts, the scavengers, leather-dressers, conjurors,
gypsies, thieves, adopted caste-rules of their own, behind
which they loved to guard themselves from the approach
of all outsiders, high or low. Caste in one shape or
another found acceptance even with the Jains, the Sikhs,
and the Mohammadans, to whose own inherited systems
of life and worship it ran directly counter. Its influence
for mingled good and evil continued to assert itself through
all the changes which Indian society has from time to
time undergone. Christianity itself has for the most part
warred in vain against an institution not altogether un-
known in the most civihsed of Christian coimtries. Caste
in India has many forms, most of which may be said to
reproduce themselves in the class distinctions and social
usages of every nation in modern Europe. It is not in
India alone that certain trades, classes, or professions
take precedence of certain others, that a halo of special
sanctity surrounds the priest, that a wide gulf of social
habit divides the nobleman from the shopkeeper. In
England a barrister would incur deep social disgrace by
stooping to practices admissible on the part of an attorney.
A German noble would still be degraded by intermarriage
with a mere plebeian. Even in the United States of
America, where all classes are equal before the sovereign
people, wealth has set up an aristocracy of its own, and
the old pride of birth still rears its walls of separation
between the old families and the new-made rich.
15
CHAPTER II.
BRAHMANISM RE-ASCKNDENT.
What the later forms of caste were to the earlier, the
religion of the Puranas must have been to that of the
Vedas. If the later Brahmans still professed to revere
the teaching of Holy Books written in a tongue already
strange even to themselves, they took care at any rate to
amuse the people at large with scriptures better suited to
the popular understanding. Somewhere about the ninth
century of our era — the very time when Roman Popes
were proclaiming the sanctity of those forged Decretals
which gave a colour of old prescriptive right to their grow-
ing pretensions — the first books of the new Hindu Bible
appear to have come into vogue. To these from time to
time were added fresh Puranas, until their number had
swollen to eighteen. In them were embodied the whole
system of Brahmanic faith, worship, morals, philosophy,
even law, as it gi-ew up with the decline of Indian
Buddhism. Borrowing alike from sources old and new,
they contain a curious mixture of grotesque legends, gross
superstitions, wild flights of reasoning and fancy, enno-
bling maxims, holy aspirations, flashes of shrewd insight,
long trains of close and subtle thought. In respect of
mental gifts the later Brahmans were still the true, if
perhaps the degenerate children of their Vedic predeces-
sors. Learned in all the knowledge of their day, but
blind perhaps to the poetic origin of the popular theology
they seemed to have aimed at strengthening their hold
upon the people by sanctioning each new perversion of
IG
HISTORY OF INDIA.
the old ancestral creeds. Under the working of the same
law which evolved the later Greek Pantheon out of the
simple nature-worship of the days before Homer, the
rehgious poetry of the Vedas had blossomed out into a
rank growth of monstrous-seeming legends, fantastic rites,
and multiform idolatries. Whatever the Brahmans them-
selves believed, the popular worship had already hardened
into a lifeless caricature of the reliqrion bodied forth in
GROUP OP BIlAIIMiNS.
the Vedic H^inns. If the Puranas held that Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva were but diflerent attributes of one same
godhead, the people at large were wont to treat them as
separate and rival gods, the chief, perhaps, but not the
only dwellers on the Indian Olympus.
Vishnu, the Indian Hercules, grew out of a Vedic
synonym for the sun into the central figure of a new
legendary circle, the divine embodiment of ever so many
heroes renowned in song or fable. Hindu poetry is full
BKAHMANISM KE-ASCENDENT. 17
of his Avatars or manifestations in the flesh. He is a
little fish who swells and swells untU he spreads for mil-
lions of leagues in one golden blaze over the ocean. In
the shape of a boar five hundred miles high he plunges
his mighty tusks into the waste of waters, and brings up
the solid earth from its briny bed. In the memorable
Churning of the Ocean, Vishnu as Narayan recruits the
fainting strength of Gods and Titans employed in wresting
from the deep the lost Ambrosia of the Immortals.*
Again, in man's form with a lion's head, he comes like
another Briareus to restore the Indian Jove to his lost
throne, and defeat the giants who have conquered the
earth. Anon, as Rama, the princely hero of the Eam;iyan
oldest and sweetest of Indian epics, he fights and slays
the giant Ravan, who had carried ofl" to the isle of Lanka
his beloved Sita, the faithful partner of his long exile from
home and throne. As Krishna, the warrior king of
* The Amrita, or Drink of Immortality — answering to the Hreek
Ambrosia — had been lost in the great flood, which, according to Hindu
legend, overspread the earth in the days of Mann — himself and the
seven Rishis, or sage?, floating on the waters in their ship of refuge,
until, guided by the fish Vishnu, it rested on the highest peak of
Himalaya, When the waters subsided, Brahma, at Vishnu's suggestion,
proposed to chum the ocean until it yielded up the lost Amrit. How
the Siirs and Asiirs. the gods and the demons, tearing up the hill
Mandar, wound about it the hundred-headed Shesha, the serpent king,
for a chuming-rope ; how, standing on Vishnu's tortoise, they lowered
the huge mass into the sea, whirling it round and round, with Vishnu's
help, until treasure after treasure rose out of the troubled foam, from
the horses of the Sun and the bow of Siva, to Lakshmi, the Indian
Venus ; how Siva betimes drank up the deadly poison that streamed
from the mouth of the fainting Shesha ; and bow at last two maidens
float up from the seething billows, the one bearing the heavenly Amrit,
the other a flask of wine, which the heedless Asurs drink off, to their
own confusion ; — all this Mr. W. Waterfield has well told in one of the
most spirited of his " Indian Ballads." Of this wonderful story, which
illustrates the mingled grandeur, wildness, sportive fancy, and tender
grace of the best Hindu poetry, the original Sanski-it contains several
versions, one of which, as given in the Mahabharat, has been cleverly
versified by Mr. R. H. Griffith, in his '• Specimens of Old Indian
Poetry."
C
18 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Dwaraka in Gujarat, he is the foremost figure in many
an Indian tale of love, war, or bold adventure. His last
advent under the form of Buddha, the founder of a rival
creed, seems to attest either the readiness of Brahman
teachers to reverence old truths preached under new dis-
guises, or else their politic desire to stand well with the
people at large by admitting new gods into the old Pan-
theon ; even as the deifying of the dark-skinned Krishna
may point to the gradual fusion of old popular legends
with those of peculiarly Aryan birth.*
If Vishnu owned and still owns millions of worshippers
distributed among divers sects, Siva, the Destroving
Principle, evolved from the Yedie Rudra, god of fire and
storms, grew into the foremost rival, if not for a time the
supplanter of his elder and more gracious brother-god.
In some parts of India, temples that once bore the shield
and club of Vishnu have since been dedicated to the
eight-armed bearer of the bow and crescent, whose neck-
lace is threaded with human skulls, whose waist is girdled
with serpents, around whose shoulders hangs a raw ele-
phant hide, and whose third eye, placed in the middle of
his forehead, betokens the sharpness of his mental -s-ision.
If Vishnu may be taken to embody the genial human side
of the great World-Spirit called Brahma, the worship of
Siva expressed the sterner, wilder attributes of the same
unseen mysterious Fountain of all life and death. Stoical
or ascetic natures found in the grave and gloomy rites
that mark his worship that kind of spii-itual comfort
which others drew from the worship of the niUder good.
Chief among Siva's votaries are the Brahmans of Bengal,
but it is in Southern India, where the pious Sankara
Acharya preached and travelled nine hundred years ago,
that the sects which honour Siva have made most way
• The T&iaTas, or children of Tadu, were the brethren of Krishna,
and the apparent forefathers of the modern Jats, who abound in Upper
India.
BRAHMANISM RE-ASCEXDENT. 19
among the people. Among the strictest of these are the
Lingayats, -who worship Siva uuiler the form of the
Lingam, the male emblem of Natm-e's reproductive
powers.
Siva-worship in its turn seems to have begotten new
and strange outgrowths in the shape of the fierce goddess
Diirga and the elephant-headed god Ganesha. The former,
herself in part evolved from the earlier Pai-vati, Siva's
queen, presently reappears in the yet sterner guise of
KiiU, at whose blood-stained altars the robber tribes of
India pay their special homage, and whose favour was
besought by the murdering brotherhood of the Thugs.
Sita, the faithful wife of Rama, becomes merged in Sri or
Lakshmi, the beautiful and bounteous goddess-queen of
Vishnu. Siirya, the sun-god, Kailikeya, god of war, Yama,
the Indian Pluto, Saraswati, goddess of learning, fill each
a certain place in the later Hindu Pantheon. In the
natural course of things, new legends, creeds, practices,
sprang up to displace or absorb the old. Besides the
deities common to all Aryan Hindus, each place or district
followed its own rites and bowed down to its own local gods
or demons, many of them borrowed from indigenous, or at
least non- Aryan sources. In short, the popular worship
took its colour and its grosser traits from all the changing
circumstances, moral and physical, which have helped to
shape the destinies of the Indian peoples.
Chief among the later oflf-shoots of modem Hinduism was
the religious sect founded by the pious Kshatriya Xinak
Shah, in the fifteenth century of our era. From time to time
there arose in this or that part of India some earnest
thinker, who strove to purify and regenerate the popular
worship of his day. Buddha himself was not the first by
many of those who assayed in India the kind of mission
discharged towards their own countrymen by the Jewish
prophets and the great religious teachers of Christian
Europe. Of like stamp was Sankara Acharya, a native of
«2
20 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Malabar, who in the eighth or ninth century of onr era
proclaimed anew the supreme bliss of perfect communion,
through penitence, prayer, and self-sacrifice, between the
human soul and the great unseen Spirit whence all things
visible have their birth. Such, too, were the leading
reformers of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth cen-
turies— Ramanand, the St. Francis, and Vallabha Swamin,
the Epicurus of India; Dadu, the cotton cleaner of Ajmir,
who taught that faith and a pure heart were better than
fasting and sacrifice ; Kabir, who denounced the idol-wor-
ship and the coiTupt doctrines of his day ; and Tukar:im,
the Maratha poet, who preached a new gospel of love
towards God and man, of child-Hke faith in all God's
works and ways.
Kabir, himself the disciple of Ramanand, seems to have
been held in equal honour by Hindus and Mohammadans.
His follower Nanak, founder of the Hindu sect of Sikhs
which afteiTvards became the ruling race in the Panjab,
proclaimed the religious brotherhood of the Hindu and
the Mussulman in words which reflect the desire of bene-
volent minds in all ages : "He only is a good Hindu who
is just and a good Mohammadan whose life is pure." His
teaching was specially levelled against Brahman tyranny
and the mixture of forms and superstitions which passed
witJb the multitude for true religion. A succession of
Gurus or High Priests handed on his teaching and swelled
the numbers of the new sect. In the Mohammadans,
however, who then ruled India, the Sikhs found stern
oppressors instead of powerful allies. After nearly a
centuiy of persecution they took up arms against the foe
under the warlike Guru Govind, and after a long course of
varying fortune, the peaceful followers of Nanak wielded
military rule from the Indus to the Jamna, and held under
a yoke of iron the crashed Mohammadans of the Panjab.
A still later revolt fi'om the popular creed was set on
foot in the present century by the enlightened Hindu
BRAHMAXISM KE-ASCEMDENT. 21
Rajah, Hammohan Eai. He proclaimed a pure Theism
founded on the religious teaching of the Yedas, and en-
riched with borrowings from the Christianity of the West.
His mantle fell on the worth}- shoulders of Dwarkanath Tha-
kiir, and the Brahma Samdj, or Church of Brahma, be-
came the title of a sect which now owns several thousand
followers. A few years ago a fresh departure from the old
faith was taken by the young Brahmist leader, Keshab
Chandar Sen, whose followers have disowned the last ties
of social and rehgious habit that still bind the Brahmists
of the older school to their unreformed countiynicn.
22
CHAPTEK III.
EARLY HISTOEY OF INDIA.
Of the early history of the Aryan Hindus very little is
known for certain.* In the time of the older Vedas,
somewhere ahout the fourteenth century before Christ,
they had already gained a firm footing in the broad plains
that stretch from the Indus to the Ganges. Coming from
the regions beyond the Hindu Khush, the classic Cau-
casus, they must have taken several centuries to win their
way so far eastward ; and a list of their old kings, as
quoted by Arrian, the Greek historian, would seem to trace
their early history as far back as the year 3000 b.c. Of
the people whom they conquered or pushed before them
* The word Aryan, from Arya, Sanskrit for " noble," is now used to
denote the Caucasian, Japhetic, or Indo-European races of men, whose
lan<njages, customs, and bodily traits may all be referred to one com-
mon type. From some central point in Upper Asia, one Aryan race
after another appears to have wandered, either westward into Europe,
or southward into Persia and Hindustan, The Celtic races made their
way into Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and Britain ; the Goths, or
Teutons, into Germany, Scandinavia, and England ; while the Slaves
peopled Russia, Poland, and parts of the Austrian Empire. Persia was
peopled by a Zend-speaking branch of the same Aryan family, and
India became the heritage of the Sanskrit-speiiking Hmdus, None of
these races can claim to be the parent of the rest ; it is not even certain
•which of them was the eldest brother ; but the fact of their common
brotherhood, of their common distinction from the Semitic, Mongolic,
and other tyjies of men, has been clearly established by the researches
of modern science. In the words of Dr. Max Miiller, " The terms for
Grod, for house, for father, mother, son, daughter, for dog and cow, for
wail and tears, for axe and tree, identical in all the Indo-European
idioms, are like the watchwords of soldiers."—" Chips from a German
Workshop," vol. i. p. 64.
EAKLY HISTORY OF INDIA. 23
we only know that they spoke a different language and
belonged to a different, perhaps an older, to all appear-
ance a less civiUsed race. These latter, the Dasyus of
Aryan song, may once have covered the whole of ancient
India ; and their descendants, to the number of eleven or
twelve mOlions, make up the various tribes of Bhiis,
Gimds, Siinthals, Kols, Mairs, Minas, Mangs, Kukis, and
so forth, which still cleave to their ancestral hills and
forests, or roam in quest of a Uvelihood from place to
place. Dark-skinned, short, ugly-featured, with high
cheek-bones and scanty beards, these rude, scattered
remnants of some aboriginal race differ not more widely
in outward shape and language than in tastes, habits, and
ways of thinking, from the tall, light-skinned, fuU-bearded,
comely-featured, subtle-brained Hindus of pure Aryan
descent. They eat all kinds of food, are partial to strong
drinks, know nothing of caste-rules, wear very little cloth-
ing, have no written language, no system of regular tillage,
worship strange sprites and demons, and lead on the
whole a wild, sequestered, unprogi'essive life. Some tribes,
however, have learned from contact with their civilised
neighbours to move slowly forward in the same direc-
tion.
In the course of time the civilised conquerors of Upper
India carried their arms and settlements across the gi-eat
Vindhyan range, which walls off the Dakhan, or Southern
India, from the plains and deserts of the north. Mean-
while the conquered country had been parcelled out into
several kingdoms, such as the Panjab, Gujarat, Kananj,
Tirhiit, Magadha, and Gaur or Bengal. It is hopeless trying
to pierce the night of poetic fable which surrounds the
history of those far-off days. The story of the great war
between the Piindus and the Knrus, the Solar and the
Lunar races, as told in the Mahabharat, the Indian Hiad,
has probably as much or as little in it of the historic
24 HISTOBY OF INDIA.
element as Homer's story of the Siege of Troy.* Not
less baffling for historic purposes are the events recorded
in the yet older Ramayan, the ^Eneid or the Odyssey of
Aryan India. Rama, the hero of Valmiki's graceful epic,
and rightful heir by birth to the throne of Ayodhya or
Audh, is doomed by a step-mother's wiles to wander in
lonely forests towards the south. His faithful wife Sita
shares and cheers his exile, until Ravan, the demon king
of Lanka, or Ceylon, bears her off through the skies to his
own palace. Thither, with the help of an army of
monkeys, who probably stand for the wild races of
Southern India, the bereaved husband follows up the
ravisher. A terrible fight ends in the death of Ravan,
and the retiu-n of Sita to her husband's arms after she
has proved her purity by passing unhurt through the
ordeal of fire. Rama, happy and triumphant, reappears
in his late father's capital, to enjoy the kingly heritage
which his faithful brother Bharat had so long held in trust
for the rightful lord.f
What traces of historic tnith may be gleaned from this
fine old Sanskrit epic are slight and often uncertain. Rama
himself remains a heroic shadow, evolved, like Homer's
Achilles, from some dim poetic legend of the sun. The
story of his wanderings and his southward march to Cey-
lon, if it has any historic meaning, may point to the pro-
• This war, memorable for a great battle, fousjht for eighteen days,
near Dehli, in which all the tribes of Northern India are described as
taking part, is supposed to have occurred about 1300 B.C. The poem
itself was probably composed by Vyasa in the second century before
Christ, partly, no doubt, from mateiials of a much older date. The
Mahabharat — literally, the mighty Bharat — contains, in eighteen books,
a series of legends concerning the adventures of the children of Pandu
and Kuru, descended from Bharat the Great, who reigned at Hastinapur.
t The date of the Ramayan is very uncertain ; but from internal
evidence it would seem to have been composed ten or eleven centuries
before Christ. (See Griffith's "Ramayan." Triibner & Co.). Both
these national epics are still widely read, or chanted, throaghoi't
Hmdustan.
EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA.
25
gress of Aryan settlement in the regions south of the
Narbadha. At the time when Yalmiki wrote his poem, his
Sanskrit-speaking countrymen must have already gained
some kind of footing in that part of the great peninsula.
If any trust can be placed in Hindu genealogies, a Pan-
dyan dynasty of northern birth ruled part of Southern
India in the ninth century before Christ, and a Chola
dynasty, of like origin, sprang up a few centuries later in
the modern Camatic. Ere long Malabar also fell under
the sway of Aryan kings ; and before the Christian era aU
India had been colonised or conquered by Sanskrit-speak-
ing Hindus.
They, or their Indian kinsfolk, had even carried their
arms and settlements into the islands of Java* and Bah,
and may perhaps, under Buddhist princes, have abeady
become masters of Ceylon, although the conquest of that
island by a prince of the great Gupta Une dates back only
to the fifth century of our era.
Long before that time, in the first centui-y b.c, another
race of conquerors had overrun Saurashtra, the modern
Katiawar. In the country once ruled by Krishna and his
Jat successors, the Sahs, an Ai-yan tribe from Persia,
founded a dynasty which, about four centuries later, gave
way to the prowess of the Gupta kings. These latter
seem for a time to have wielded over the greater part of
India a leadership akin to that which Athens, Sparta, and
Thebes successively claimed over the rest of Greece, and
which the Bretwaldas of the Saxon Heptarchy wielded
over then- feUow-princes. The strongest of the Indian
rulers for the time being would win for himself the title of
Maharajah Adiraj — Lord Paramount of the Old Empire —
and that title his successor was fi-ee to keep, if he could.
It was held from time to time by six of the Gupta princes,
whose sway at one period extended from Katiawar to
* Java seems to have derived its name from the Yavanas j the Javaa
of Scripture, the Ionian Greeks of history.
20 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Ceylon. In the middle of the first century before Christ
it was held apparently by Vikram-Aditya, a prince of the
Andhra dynastj*, whose sway extended from Magadha, the
erewlule seat of King Asoka's power, through Central India
to the modem Haidarabad in the Dakhan. Descended from
a powerful Rajput tribe, whom legend traces back to one
of four Agnikiil brothers — " Sons of Fire " — evolved by
Brahman spells from the sacrificial fires of Mount Abu in
Gujarat, in order to go forth and rescue India from the
curse of Buddhism, King Vikram held his court at Ujain*
in Malwa, and became the Hariin al Kashid of Indian
story. His great victory over the Shakas — the classic
Sacs — who had swooped down upon the plains of Upper
India from the highlands of Kamaon, signahsed the early
years of a long and glorious reign. In him, after ages
cherished the memory of an upright king and a steady
patron of art and learning. Later Hindu fabulists were
never weary of weaving legends in praise of Indra's god-
like grandson, who " brought the whole eai'th under the
shadow of one umbrella," whose court was adorned vrith
the foremost poets and wisest thinkers of his day, and the
beginning of whose reign has served to mark a new era in
Hindu chronology.! Among those who had the largest
share of Viki-am's bounty were the " Nine Gems of Science";
one of whom, the poet Kiilidiisa, still charms the hearts of
his living countrymen with the honied tenderness of his
" Messenger Cloud," and the thick-clustering fancies of
his di'amatic masterpiece, " Sakimtala."
In their victorious march southward the Aiyan Hindus
appear to have encountered a people almost as civUised as
themselves, but speaking a language yet nearer to that
* Ujain, one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindus, now belongs
to Sindia, the sovereign of Gwalior. The ruins of the old city lie
about a mile to the north of its modem namesake.
t The Sambat era, as established by Vikram, dates from 56 B.C., and
is still the recognised era of the Hindu calendar.
EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA.
27
primfBval tongue of which even Sanslu-it was only a later
offshoot. These earlier settlers may have built the crom-
lechs and dolmens, and carved the funeral urns, of which
so many traces are found in the regions south of the
Narbadha, where some form of Tamil is still the prevail-
ing tongue. New invaders in their turn pressed from time
to time on the first Ai-yan settlements in Northern India.
Kashmir, the ancient seat of a Kuru dynasty, was overrun
by Scythian tribes, who appear to have mingled their
own snake-worship with the Buddhism ah-eady imported
thither.* Later still a Tartar dynasty ruled in ihevc stead,
and bequeathed to its own successors some noble monu-
ments of architectural skill. Other tribes, whether of
Scythian or Tartar origin, left their mark upon the country
watered by the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, and even
made their way down the sea-board of Orissa. Tradition
likewise tells of the Yavans, whose name marks their
Ionic or Greek extraction, as foimding settlements in
Kashmir and Sindh, and finally, in our own era, ruling
Orissa for a century and a half.
Amid all such events, however, the candid historian
must still grope his way with much care and many mis-
givings, content to rescue a few waifs of seeming fact from
the darkness that everywhere broods around him. To
trace events in their proper sequence becomes a hopeless
task when the events themselves are shrouded in deceitful
twilight, or lost in a tangle of decayed traditions. How
much are we to believe, for instance, of that old story,
which represents the Assyrian queen Semiramis as leading
her myi-iads of horse and foot over the Indus, with thousands
of camels disguised as elephants, whose panic-flight before
the real elephants hurled against them by King Stabrobates
* The terra Sci/thian lia3 often been misemployed as a synonym for
Tartar or Tibelan, In point of fact the true Scythi;m belonged to a
pure Aryan stock ; perhaps to that branch of it, the Gothic, which
furnished the forefathers of Saxon England.
28 HISTOEV OF INDIA.
caused the invading hosts to scatter in disastrous rout ?
The story itself, however unknown to the travelled Hero-
dotus, and incredible in the shape traced out by the pens
of Ctesias and Diodorus, need not be scouted as abso-
lutely untrue. Nor is there anything wildly improbable
in the story of a much more successful inroad, accom-
plished in the tenth century before Christ by the troops of
the Egj'ptian Ramses II.
There is surer ground perhaps for beUeving in a partial
conquest of India by the troops of the Persian Darius
Hystaspes, a near successor to the throne of Cvrus the
Great. Fired by glowing tales of the rich and po-
pulous countries which his admiral Scylas had passed
through on his memorable voyage down the Indus, that
monarch carried his arms across the same river, as far as
the great desert which divides Sindh fi-om Eajputana.
From his new conquests, which may have included the
valley of the Satlaj, Darius seems to have drawn a richer
tribute than from any of his other provinces.
About two centuries later a yet more famous conqueror
stood upon the banks of the river, whence India has de-
rived its name. Master of Persia on the defeat and sub-
sequent death of Darius, the last king of his line, Alexander
the Great of Macedon pushed his way steadily onwards
tiirough Balkh and Afghanistan, over the mountains of the
Hindu Khusb, through the rugged gorges of the Khaibar,
until his war-worn legions reached the Indus flo-ning in
swift stream, not far from Atak. Between the Indus and
the Jhilam — the classic Hydaspes — he met only with
friends, one of whom, Taxiles or Takshailas, appears to
have offered his own aid against his powerful neighbour,
Porus or Piiru, whose sway extended from the Jhilam to
Hastinapur on the Ganges. The youthful conqueror of
Greece, Persia, and Babylon, caught with his usual eager-
ness at a bait so tempting. Two hostile armies soon faced
each other on the banks of the swollen Hydaspes, at a spot
EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA. 29
since memorable for the passage of the troops with which
General Gilbert followed up Lord Gough's crowning victory
over the Sikhs at Gujarat. On the left bank of the river,
just below where it branches into several streams, Porus
had arrayed his host, the flower of the warrior-tribes of
Upper India. Alexander's strategy, however, served him
well. Under cover of a dark, stormy night he carried a
choice body of troops over the several branches of the
main stream, and with the first streaks of morning bore
swiftly down upon his opponent's flank and rear. Porus
discovered the movement too late ; but the courage with
which he maintained a hopeless struggle, after half his
troops had left the field, won for him the forbearance of a
conqueror in whose ambition there was nothing mean.
Treating the captive monarch, as Porus himself had asked
to be treated, " like a king," Alexander took him into friend-
ship, restored him to his throne, and even enlarged bib
frontiers with new conquests.
After founding two cities on the scene of his late suc-
cesses, the conqueror led most of his troops across the
Chemib and the Kavi. On the left bank of the Beyas, or
Hydrostes, he encountered a large but ill-disciplined force
gathered together, it seems, from the neighbouring hills.
This he routed with heavy slaughter, in spite of a brave
defence. Pushing on to the Satlaj — the classic Hyphasis
— he would have carried his veterans even to Palibothra,
the far-famed capital of Magadha, the Gangetic kingdom
then ruled by a Takshak* prince of the Nanda dj-nasty,
which had flourished there for nearly four hundred years.
But the men who had followed him so far in quest of the
world's easternmost bounds at length refused to go an
inch further. Daunted by their attitude, or moved by
their just complaints, Alexander unwUluigly prepared to
retrace his steps. Leaving Porus, it is said, in command
* The word " Takshak" seems to imply the eettlement of a Daco-
Scythian people in the valley of the G-anges.
30 HISTORY OF INDIA.
of seven niitions and two thousand cities, he led his tired
soldiers back to the Jhilam. At the point where it receives
the waters of the Chenab, not far from JIultan, he himself
with part of his army embarked for a voj-age down that
river to its junction with the Indus, and thence down the
Indus to the sea, whilst his heutenants, Hepbastion and
Craterus, marched along either bank to the appointed
meeting-place. A journey of several months, imperilled by
the attacks of hostile tribes, and memorable for the storm-
ing of a stronghold defended by the Malli, the people of
Miiltan, brought the whole army to the sea-coast. Here
Alexander once more divided his forces. "While one wing,
under Nearchus, sailed along the shores of the Indian
Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the mouth of the Euphrates,
he himself, with the other, marched along the coast amid
the dreary sandhills of the Gedrosian desert, known to
later times as Beliichistan. After his safe return to Susa,
the great Macedonian still cherished the hope of one day
planting his standard on the banks of the Ganges, of
bringing the farthest marts of India into close commercial
fellowship with the valley of the Euphrates and his new
Egyptian capital on the Mediterranean. But the fever
which slew him at Babylon, three years afterwards, in the
thlrty-thii-d year of his age, cut short his career of con-
quest, and put off for many centuries the fulfilment of his
schemes for the worldly advancement of the human race.
His work, however, was not destined to be all in vain.
The voyage of Nearchus, itself in those days a feat of bold
seamanship, prepared the way for new voyages of dis-
covery, which finally laid the whole coast of Western
India open to Greek adventurers from the Bed Sea and
the Persian Gulf. If Alexander's empire fell to pieces on
his death, the ablest of his generals founded Greek dynas-
ties which long held sway over its component provinces.
If Babylon gave place to Seleucia on the Tigris, as the
gi-eat mart of trade with the countries eastward of Meso-
EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA. 31
potamia, Alexandria under the Ptolemies grew apace into
the first commercial capital of the civilised world, the
common reservoir for the trade of three continents. Greek
art inspired some of the noblest, if not the earliest, eflbrts
of Indian architects and sculptors, as traceable in the gi'eat
Buddhist domes whose ruined masses still meet the eye,
here and there, on the road from Kabul through the Pan-
jab to the banks of the Kistna. Greek coins discovered
in Afghan, Panjabi, and Turkman cities, recal the days
when Greek Seleucidse and their successors reigned over a
Bactrian kingdom, stretching at one time from Labor to
Samarkhand.
"SMien the first Seleucus had laid firm hold on the eastern
provinces of Alexander's empire, he tui-ned his arms against
Chandragupta — the Sandracottus of Greek historians —
who had annexed the kingdom of Magadha to the country
erewhile ruled by Porus and Taxiles. But the able Greek
soon found good reason to make peace with the powerful
Sudra monarch, who remained master of all Alexander's
conquests eastward of the Indus, in return for a yearly tri-
bute of fifty elephants, and a marriage alliance with his
late foe. A Greek envoy, Megasthenes, lived for many
years at his court in Palibothra,* and bore memorable
witness to the peace, order, well-doing, and high enlighten-
ment that prevailed throughout the realm. His son,
Mitra-Gupta, renewed the treaties with Seleucus, and after
a reign of twenty-five years handed on the sceptre of the
Mauryan line to his Uke-minded heir Asoka, the extent of
whose sway is marked by the stone piUars engraved in
Pali, the spoken Sanskrit of his day, which have been
traced from Orissa even to Kabul. During his long reign
of thirty-seven years this wise and beneficent ruler made
justice easy of access to the poorest of his subjects, and
* The site of this great city, ten mUes long by two broad, with its
sixty gates, 57-t towers, and moat thirty cubits deep, has been placed
by different writers at Allahabad, Patna, Kajmahal, and Bhagalpur.
82 HISTOEY OF INDIA.
outdid even his grandfather in the success of his efforts to
encourage trade, learning, and every civilised art. The
first Indian monarch who openly embraced Buddhism, he
may have presided also at the birth of that now architec-
ture which tells its own tale of Greek example, moulding
the handiwork of the earUest native architects in stone.*
Thirty years after the death of Asoka, which happened
about 226 B.C., the great Mauryan dynasty gave place to
that of the Sanga princes, who displayed their zeal for the
faith of Buddha by building massive " topes " and hewing
out majestic cave-temples in many parts of their broad
realm. These, in their turn, were succeeded about a
century later by the Andhra line, of whose greatest prince,
Vikram, we have already spoken. Under its wide sway
the greater part of India seems to have flourished for
nearly five hundred years. It may have been a king of
this line, perhaps Vikram himself, whom Strabo has de-
scribed as sending an embassy to Cfesar Augustus at
Antioch, a few years after Actium had made Juhus' nephew
master of nearly all the civilised world. Another embassy
to the same potentate appears to have been sent about the
same time by a certain " King Pandion," a prince, no
doubt, of the old Pandyan dynasty whose reign of two
thousand years over part of Southern India ceased only
with the Mohammadan Conquest.
It was about a century later that some ripples from the
wave of a new religious movement, whose birthplace was
Judffia, first broke upon the farthest shores of Southern
India. Tradition, at any rate, points with some show of
* According to Mr. J.imes Fergnsson (" Tree and Serpent Worship"),
the great Buddhist " tope " at Sanchi in Malna is the oldest known
specimen of pure stone architecture in Hindustan, and is one of many
built by Afrika in honour of Sakya Miini. General Cunningham, how-
ever, would assign it a much earlier date. Be that as it may, its gate-
ways were evidently built at a time when stone was beginning to
supersede wood for building purposes; and its sculptures show clear
traces of Greek influence.
EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA. 33
likelihood to Mailapiir, or Mount St. Thomas, near Madras,
as the last resting-place of India's first Christian teacher,
St. Thomas the Apostle.* In the second century of our
era Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria, sent forth the eloquent
Pantasnns to visit and instruct the native Christians of
Malahar, whose desire for further knowledge of the new
Gospel some Egyptian sailors had brought to his ears.
Two centuries later we find John, Metropolitan of Persia,
claiming authority over the Chi-istian chm-ches in Southern
India. In the sixth century a Christian bishop, consecrated
in Persia, governs his Indian flock from KaUanpiir, near
Mangalor, and Christian villages are discovered even in
Ceylon. In the latter part of the eighth century we see
the Christians of Malabar hving in peace and comfort
under a king of the Chera dynasty, and driving a busy
trade with Persia and Egypt.
About a century and a half later, two Syrian priests
from Babylon reach Southern India on a mission from
their Persian Metropolitan, and make new converts in the
country ruled by the friendly Kajah of Travancore. For
some part of the tenth century a Christian rajah seems to
have reigned in Malabar. In the course of years the
churches of Southern India mixed up with their own sim-
ple doctrines some of the ideas and usages that prevailed
among their neighbours, or were imported by missionaries
from the Latin Church. In the last year of the sixteenth
century the long struggle of the native Christians against
the claims of the high-handed and unscrupulous Menezes,
the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa, ends in the temporary
* The tradition in question was already old in the time of St. Jerome,
who in the fourth century A.D., speaks of the Divine Vford as being
everywhere present, " with Thomas in India, with Peter at Rome, i'c."
Long before then, in the second century of our era, happened the
mission of Pantasnus to the Christians of Malabar, as described by
Clemens Alexandrinus. A useful sketch of the early Christian Church
of Malabar may be found in Rev. J. Lobley's " The Church and
Churches in Southern India," chap, iv,
D
84 HISTORY OP INDIA.
triumph of the Roman rale. Fifty years later one-half of
Rome's new subjects threw off the yoke they had never
loved, and renewed their old allegiance to the Patriarch of
Antioch. To this day the Church of St. Thomas, however
shattered and defaced by time and human error, still owns
many thousand worshippers who, whether in doctrine or
discipline, have never bowed the knee to Rome.
Let us return for a moment to the Indo-Macedonian
kingdom of Bactria. Among the kings of the dynasty
■which, about 256 b.c, succeeded that of the Seleucidae, a
prominent place is due to Demetrius, who reconquered the
■western provinces of the Panjab ; to his successor Eucra-
tides, who carried his arms still further eastward ; and to
Menander, whose sway extended over the Panjab and Sindh.
In the beginning of the first century before Christ, the
Greek rule in Bactria and the adjacent provinces gives
place to a succession of dynasties, Scythian, Parthian,
Turkish, and Hindu, of all which some traces have been
bequeathed to us in the coins discovered and deciphered
by modern research. Each change of dynasty is marked
by a change in the language of the legends borne upon the
coins. Greek gives place to Sanskrit, which is followed in
its turn by later forms of Aryan, Turanian, or Semitic
speech. From some of these faithful witnesses to the past
■we learn that as late as the eighth century of our era
Indian princes still reigned over the country westward of
the Indus, from Sindh up to Kabul.*
• See Professor Wilson's " Ariana ; " Prinsep's " Historical Kesults,"
Slc.
36
CHAPTER IV.
CIVILISATION OF ARYAN INDIA.
During the long period of which we have thus far spoken,
Aryan India seems to have filled a commanding, if not the
veiy highest place among the ci-vilised races of that old
time. In almost every field of mental, social, and political
life, the early Hindus long kept ahead of their Western
kinsfolk. Centuries before Pericles ruled or Plato wrote,
their village communities had proved their extraordinary
fitness for the work of governing themselves. In the
sphere of philosophy they rose to heights of speculation
hardly matched by the most daring subtleties of Aristotle,
Spinoza, Berkeley, or Kant. Their moral and religious
theories involved some of the highest truths conceivable by
human wisdom. As subtle thinkers and keen logicians
they have never been surpassed. Their oldest poem, the
Ramiiyan, teems with tender and holy thoughts, glows all
over with examples of every virtue, is crowded with pic-
tures of fatherly and fraternal love, of filial submission, of
wifely purity, faithfulness, self-surrender, of manly tender-
ness, courage, firroness, long-suflfering, of sexual love free
from all earthlier taint, of domestic harmony, social well-
being, of unaffected pleasure in the beautiful things of
earth and air and human handiwork. Their earliest
writings, whether in verse or prose, reveal the great pro-
gress made by a large-brained, supple-witted race in the
arts that dignify, adorn, and sweeten hfe.
In astronomy the Hindus of the Rig- Veda had already
learned to mark out the moon's path through the constel-
d2
86 HISTORY OF INDIA.
lations, to divide tlie zodiac into twelve signs oi stations
answering to the months and seasons of the year, to mea-
sure time by weeks, months, and solar years, to follow the
movements of the planets, and to fix with some precision
the date of each recurring equinox and solstice. A few
centuries later their wise men had begun to calculate
eclipses, to mark the precession of the equinoxes, to mea-
sure the orbits of the moon and planets ; and sought, not
quite in vain, to account for the apparent rising and setting
of the sun. Still later, in the sixth century of our era,
Aryabhata was perhaps the first in India who taught the
spinning of the earth around its own axis, and who hit
upon the true theory of solar and lunar eclipses.* He has
been called, indeed, the founder of mathematical and astro-
nomical science in India ; and certain it is, that whatever
help he may have derived from older Greek researches in
those fields, his own discoveries and improvements more
than repaid the debt.
In the twelfth century of our era Bhaskar-Acharya of
Ujjain had forestalled by five hundred years the analytical
methods of Newton and Leibnitz. Long before his day,
centimes even before Aryabhata, the Hindus had begun to
work out many of the higher problems in algebra. In
arithmetic they invented decimals, and the letters of the
Sanskrit alphabet supplied the numerals which modem
Europe derived directly from Arabia. Their medical
writings prove their early proficiency in the art of healing.
They seem to have been clever surgeons, shrewd in de-
tecting the sources and symptoms of disease, alive to the
saving virtues of proper diet. They knew the value of
human dissection,! and the medicinal uses of mercury
and other minerals. Inoculation for small-pox seems to
have been known to them fi-om a very early age. Their
* He was bom near Patna about ad. 47G.
t The practice of dissection was greatly hampered, of course, by the
strength of religious prejudice.
CIVILISATION OF ARYAN INDIA. 37
chemical knowledge was far from despicable. Greek
and Ai'abic physicians borrowed freely from the medical
science of India ; and the IQialifs of Bagdad, especially
the far-famed Hariin al Kashid, set no little store by the
Hindu physicians who visited or held posts in their
court.*
From the days of Manu's Code, ancient India possessed
a noteworthy system of law which, after weathering the
Mohammadan Conquest, still guides and bounds the latest
eflforts of Anglo-Indian lawmakers. In the study of gi'am-
mar, or word-lore in its highest and widest sense, the
Hindus were deeply versed as far back as the sixth or
seventh century before Christ. Their grammar, like their
astronomy, may have sprung from the depth of their
religious instincts. K the need of fixing the exact time
for a given sacrifice first made them astronomers, the
duty of understanding what they prayed or chanted led
them, it seems, to study the meanings, origins, and
arrangement of words. Their oldest known lexicon, a
work even now of acknowledged value, must have been
written more than two thousand years ago. Their early
literature, viewed as art-work, ranks second only to that
of ancient Greece. The one bears to the other the same
kind of relation which some great Hindu temple beai's to
the Parthenon. An old Sanskrit play, poem, or romance,
if it lacks the severe symmetry, the classic grace of Homer
or Sophocles, recalls the teeming luxuriance of an Eastern
landscape, filled with the weii-d sheen of a tropical moon.
At once the wildest of dreamers and the most subtle of
thinkers, the old Hindus produced great poets, philoso-
phers, fabulists, story-tellers, but not one historian of
even the smallest mark. "Sweet Sakuntala" was the
delight of Gennany's greatest poet. The " Hitopadesa, or
Fables of Pilpay," have during the last twelve centmies
* Mrs. Manning's ■' Ancient and Mediffival India," vol. i. chap. 18.
88 HISTORY OF INDIA.
been translated into almost every civilised tongue.* The
epics of Valmiki, Vyasa, and Kalidasa ; the dramatic,
lyrical, and pastoral poems of KaUdusa, Bhavabhuti, Jaya-
deva ; the collection of prose stories preserved from an
immemorial past, all attest the range and fruitfulness of
the Hindu imagination, and abound with passages unsur-
passed for beauty by any writings in the world. Only for
the Muse of History does Aryan India provide no pedestal.
Roaming childUke in a marvellous dreamland, gazing with
rapt eye into the essence and the mystery of things, or
clothing with ideal graces the scenes and characters of its
pourtrajdng, the Hindu mind seems to have always
spumed the cold rules of historic inquiry, to have treated
past dates and events as mere aids to the weaving ol
poetic fancies, or rehgious fables. Indian chronology,
such as it is, deals with myriads and even millions of years :
while the kings and heroes of Indian story live to an age
far beyond that of any recorded in the Jewish Scriptures.
Hindu plays were often accompanied by music of a
sweet and plaintive kind, and the pathetic airs of Bengal
have been likened by Su' William Jones to the wild but
charming melodies of the Scotch Highlanders. In the
sister ai'ts of sculptui-e and architecture the old Hindus
attained a pitch of excellence to which the ruined topes of
Sanchi in Malwa and Amravati on the Kistna, the care
temples of Karh, Ajanta, EUora, and Elephanta, the
pagodas of Tanjor and Mahabalipur, bear memorable
witness.! The carven pOlars and gateways of Sanchi
* A stUl older version of the Hitopadesa was found by Professor
Wilson in the Panchatnnira, or " Five Sections," which coincides in the
main with the work ascribed to Pilpay or Bidpai.
t The old Buddhist topes, of great but still undefined antiquity,
were almost solid domes of brick or stone and plaster, rising out of a
low basement, and crowned by a pillared Thee or relic-box, over which
stood the mystic " umbrella." The tope, which served as a burial-
vault, a relic-shrine, or a sort of temple, was usually surrounded bv ;i
rail of massive stone-work, richly sculptured, and divided by four tall
gateways. (Fergusson's " Tree and Serpent Worehip.")
CmHSATION OF ARYAN INDIA.
89
come midway between the art of Greece and Egjpt ; and
the friezes of Amravati, a few centuries younger, have the
rich variety and flowing life-Uke gi'ace that mark the
sculptures of medifeval Europe. In the rock-hewn halls
and temples of the same or of somewhat later times, the
massive pillars are often reheved with tasteful fi-etwork,
and the broad flat roofs panelled out with carved and
coloured scrolls, as graceful as those that adorn the Baths
of Titus, and the best houses in Pompeii. The Viharas,
or convents of Ajanta, near Bombay, contain fresco paint-
ings of high merit, whose age may be reckoned at four-
teen hundred years. Grandeur of form, combined with
no small beauty of detail, distinguishes many of the old
temples in Southern India. The Great Pagoda of Tan-
jor, dating fi'om the tenth century of our era, tapers
upward through story after story to a height of two hun-
dred feet. The wondrous temple of Halibedu, or HaUa-
beed, in Maisor, buUt by a Brahman architect for a Jain
king, is carved all over with designs of such exquisite
beauty that they stUl form models for the carved sandal-
wood of that province.* Orissa, famed for the worship
of Jagannath, and rich in architectural remains, can
boast of a temple at Buvaneswar eleven or twelve cen-
turies old, unsurpassed for lofty and solid grandeur. In
Eajputana the temples of BaroUi and Chitor claim special
notice for the delicate fulness and classic grace of their
sculptured details. The massive ruins of pillared temples
in Kashmir carry us back to the first centuries of our
era, and seem to attest the influence of Greek upon
Indian art. India, in short, abounds in architectural
remains of exceeding beauty and gi'eat age, in the shape
of temples, palaces, tanks, colonnades, bridges, castles,
and fortified towns, many of which in the beginning of
* Bowring's "Eastern Experiences"; Fergusson's "History of Ar-
chitecture."
40 HISTORY OF INDIA.
the fifth century charmed the gaze of the Chinese travel-
ler Fa Hian.
In works of engineering skiU, Southern India appears
to have excelled from the earhest times. The tanks and
reservoii-s, which everj-where feed the country with water
gathered from a thousand streams and from skies laden
with tropical moisture, are often of vast size, with stone-
faced embankments fifty feet wide, and sluices admirably
fitted for their work. In old days, when iron was plen-
tiful, India won the name she has not yet lost for skill in
the making of fine steel. The best of the Damascus
blades have been traced to the workshops of Western
India. For skilful or artistic workmanship in gold, silver,
and other metals, in ivory, earthenware, muslins, wooUens,
brocades, and precious stones, the artisans of India were
renowned ages before our English forefathers landed in
Britain. From the earliest recorded dates the Hindus
appear to have been active merchants, neat-handed work-
men, and patient farmers. It is probable that the gold of
Ophir,* it is certain that the spicery borne by Arab
traders to Egypt in the time of Joseph came from Indian
marts. The pepper of modern trade is still caUed by its
old Indian name. It was out of Indian ivory that Phidias
carved his statues of Minerva and the Olympian Jove.t
Indigo, as its name denotes, was an old Indian product,
known to Europe in the time of Pliny, if not before.
From the same country came the sugar, which, introduced
into Europe by Greek merchants, betrays its Indian origin
ia the name it still bears throughout the civilised world. {
• AccordiDg to ilai MuUer. Ophir was the same as Malabar.
t From the Sanskrit ibha came the Latin ebur and our irory. The
Greek elepkas may be another form of the same word. " India mittit
ebnr," " Quicquid gemmarum prodiga mittit India ; " " Prabet odor-
atas quia discolor India messes," are among the references that crop
up in the Latin poetry of the Augustan age.
I Our word "sugar," German awter, Greek sacckaron, evidently
came from the Sanskrit and Persian " shakhar."
CmLISATION OF AEy.VS INDIA. 41
In the first century of our era rich streams of merchan-
dise flowed from many a port of Western India to feed
the gi-owing luxury of Imperial Rome. Long before then,
as we know from Manu's Code, Indian bankers issued
their bills of exchange, and merchants insured their ven-
tures by land and sea. Their character for enterprise,
honesty, and shrewdness, stood high in the days of Marco
Polo, who visited Southern India a few years before its
great wealth in gold and jewels tempted the first inroads
of Mohammadan conquerors. Then, as now, the fish-
charmers on the Coromandel coast levied a handsome
profit from the pearl-divers, whose safety they pretended
by their magical arts to secure. Already Arab pirates
were preying on the sea-borne trade of the countr}", and
all direct intercom'se between India and Europe had long
since come to an end. But a busy trade had sprung up
with China and Japan, while the cotton, indigo, hides,
agates, and fine muslins of Gujarat, the pepper, ginger,
and peacocks of Quilon, the diamonds of Golconda, the
" woven-aii- " musUns of Masulipatam, the pearls of Tan-
jor, stUl made their way through Egypt and Mesopotamia
to the West.
The practice of Satti or widow-burning, which Marco
Polo found in full swing, appears to have been unknown
in the days of Alexander. It was certainly unknown to
the Hindus of the Yedic period. As far back as the reign
of Chandi-agupta, the country was covered with thriving
villages, relieved here and there by royal cities of vast
circuit and stately adornment. Palibothra, the capital of
that monarch's realm, is said to have been ten miles long
and two broad, with sixty gates, and more than five hun-
dred towers along its outer wall. According to the author
of the Eamayan, the ancient city of Ayodhya, near
the modern Faizabad, had a length of twenty-four and a
depth of three miles. Broad roads, some of them hned
with canals, ran past noble squares, smiling gardens, well-
42 HISTORY OF INDIA.
built houses, stately temples, and palaces alive with
spleiidid pageantry. Chariots, wagons, elephants, horses,
streamed to and fro, bearing choice merchandise, "gay
sleek people" in quest of pleasure, envoys from distant
kings, or " bands of heroes skilled in every warlike
weapon." Everywhere busy artisans plied their calling,
holy men chanted the Vedas, damsels danced and min-
strels sang their verses to the music of tabret and lute.
The poorest man in the city earned for his day's labour a
piece of gold. The women, says the poet, were fair to
see, gi'aceful, modest, of a charming wit ; and each man
was the loyal husband of one wife. Such are the leading
strokes of a picture which, however coloured by the poet's
fancy, may yet be taken for something like a fair present-
ment of Hindu hfe and manners thirty centm'ies ago.*
* The " Kamayan," translated into English verse by E. T. H. Griffith.
M.A. Book I. cantos 5 and 6,
BOOK II.
THE MOHAMMADAN PERIOD.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY MOHAMMADAN CONQUESTS, A.D. 6G4 1288.
For several hundred years of our era uo new invader
seems to have gained a firm footing on Indian gi-ound. In
the middle of the sixth century, indeed, during the reign
of Chosroes, or Nushirvan the Just, the greatest Persian
king of the Sassanid line, who fought successfully agaiust
Justinian himself, the Persian arms were carried for a
while into the Rajput territory of Surat. But Goha, the
son of the Rajput queen, appears in due time to have
regained his lost inheritance, and from his marriage with
the granddaughter of the Persian king sprang a hue of
princes whose descendants still rule in Udaipiir.
A hundred years later, when the Ai-ab followers of
Mahomet had already overrun Persia, conquered Egypt,
BjTia, Mesopotamia, and planted the standard of the
crescent in a few years after Mahomet's death on the
banks of the Oxus, they proceeded to turn their arms
against the countries watered by the Indus.* In the
* " There is no God but Allah, and Mahomet is hii? Apostle." Such
was the substance of the doctrine preached to his counti-ytnen bj
Mahomet, the whilom hermit of Mount Hira, the high-born son of Abd-
aUah, .in Arab chief of the great Koreish tribe at Mecca. Born about
44 HISTORY OF INDIA.
year 664, the forty-second after the Prophet's flight to
Medina, an Arab army marched from Basrah, on the Tigris,
into Sindh, while another, in quest of proselytes and
plunder, set out for Kabul. The conquest of ancient
Bactria seems to have been completed in fifty years, but
Aryan India proved a harder morsel to swallow. Little,
save the plunder of a few towns, was gained in this first
inroad by the soldiers of Khalif Moawiyah. A more suc-
cessful attack on Sindh was conducted in 711 by Mohammad
Kasim, who, in requital of some wrong said to have been
sustained by the crew of an Arab merchant-ship, saUed
up the Indus as far as Alor, the capital of the Sindian
Eajah, slaying him and his bravest Rajputs in their last
hopeless sally from the hard-pressed town, and storming
several other cities by the way. Dahir's brave queen, pre-
ferring death to dishonour, perished in the flames of her own
palace ; but one of her daughters lived, it seems, to grace
the haram of an Arab Khalif, and to avenge, as the story
570 A.D.. Mahomet — or more correctly Mohammad — began in his
fortieth year to declare himself a messenger sent by God to turn his
countrj-men back from their idol-worship to the true faith as handed
down by Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ. Belief and thorough
trust in one righteous God, who rewards each man hereafter according
to his deserts, formed the gi"oundwork of a new religion which, as
developed in the Kor^n, became the one fountain of moral, social, and
civil law to many millions of Mahomet's followers in every age. Re-
viled, persecuted, threatened with death by his fellow-citizens, the
prophet of Islam in 622 fled with a few score kinsmen and disciples to
Medina, where the growing numbers and strength of his converts ere
long tempted him to draw the sword, at first in self-defence, presently
for the wide extension of his spiritual sway. Before his death in 632,
all Arabia had submitted to his rule, and the Byzantine emperor, Hera-
cUus, had been threatened with an attack on his eastern provinces.
Twelve years afterwards Persia was conquered by the generals of
Khalif Omar, the second of Mahomet's successors, whose sway ah-eady
included Syria and Egypt. A few yeai-s later Bactria shared the same
fate, and the Mohammadan arms and faith were carried to the Indus.
Early in the next century Spain itself succumbed to the Arab invader.
In every case the conquered people had to choose between •' the Koran,
tribute, or the sword."
THE EAKLY MOHAMMADAN CONQUESTS. 45
goes, her father's fall, by causing the disgrace or death of
his conqueror, Kasim, who had meanwhile been carrying
his master's armu and religion into the neighbouring king-
dom of Gujarat. Perhaps, however, his defeat by the
Kajput chivalry of Chitor, in Mewar, had more connection
than Arab chroniclers might care to own with his dis-
appearance from the scene of his first successes. Certain
it is that by the middle of the eighth century not a trace
of Arab rule was to be found in Western India.
Once more, in a.d. 812, the countrymen of Mahomet,
under Mahmiid, governor of I^Jiorasan, a son or kinsman
of the great Hariin al Rashid, crossed swords with the
Kajput warriors of Chitor. But Kamran, great-grandson
of him who had routed Kasim, summoned to his aid the
princes of Northern India, and once more the old Hindu
prowess drove back the Mohammadan invader beyond the
Indus and the Sulaiman Hills. Thenceforth for more than
a century and a half the peace of India remained unbroken
by enemies from without, and the Hindus might claim the
honour of having been the first to roll back that tide of
conquest which had hitherto marked the progress of Islam.
Their day of suffering, however, was to come at last ;
but not from the Arab masters of Baghdad. About the
year 913 Ismael Samani, a Turk of that race which has
since ruled or roved from Constantinople to Pekin,*
founded at Bokhara a dynasty which for the next hundred
and twenty years held sway over Khorasan and other out-
lying pro\inces once ruled by the Khalifs of Baghdad.
The fifth prince of this Samanid line had a Turkish
slave named Alptagin, who won his way to the govern-
ment of Kandahar in Afghanistan. On the death of his
* The Turks of modem parlance are a mere branch of that Turanian
race, which has given its name to Eastern and Western Turkistan, and
furnished, in the forms of Attila, Chingiz Khan, and Timur, some of
the greatest conquerors and most terrible scourges of medieval Europe
and Asia.
46 HISTOKY OF INDIA.
master, Abd-al-Midik, in 901, Alptagin voted against the
son's claim to succeed his father. Suspected of intrigues
against the new king, he retired to Ghazni, defeated the
troops sent out against him, and finally carved out for
himself an Afghan kingdom, which fell in 976 to his
favourite slave and son-in-law, Sabaktagin.
At this time the country on the left bank of the Indus
was ruled by a Hindu sovereign, whose capital was Labor.
In order to forestall the real or assumed designs of his
Turkish neighbour, Iiing Jaipal marched a large army
across the Indus to Laghman, on the road from Peshawar
to Kabul. The hostile armies were face to face, when a
sudden storm spread such dismay among his superstitious
troops, that the Hindu monarch was driven to purchase a
safe retreat by the surrender of fifty elephants and the
promised payment of a large sum of money.
On his return to Labor, however, Jaipal refused to pay
the price of his salvation, and put the Mohammadan
envoys into prison. It was an evil hour for India when
he preferred the crooked counsels of bis priests to those
of the high-minded warriors who urged him not to break
his kingly word.
After disposing of his other enemies, the angry Tartar
once more hastened towards the Indus, seeking vengeance
for the insult offered him through bis ambassadors. Once
more the hostile armies confronted each other at Laghman.
On Jaipal's side were arrayed the flower of the Hindu
chivalry, their numbers swollen by contingents from
Debli, Ajmir, Kabnga, and Kanauj. The abler general,
however, won the day. An obstinate fight ended in the
utter rout of Jaipal's warriors, the plunder of their vast
camp, and the subjugation of the Peshawar valley.
Thus began that new career of Mohammadan conquest,
which led in due time to the subjection of all India under
the Moghals. Mahmiid of Ghazni, Sabaktagin's son and
successor, was not long in gratifying alike his ambition and
THE E.\KLY MOHAMMADAN CONQUESTS. 47
his religious zeal by a series of inroads amongst the rich
idolators of Hindustan. In November, 1001, his fiery
Turks and Afghans once more overthrew vntb. heavy
slaughter the myriads of horse and foot that barred his
progress through the Peshawar valley. Their aged leader,
the luckless Jaipal, himself a prisoner at the close of that
fatal day, was ere long set fi-ee on condition of paying his
conqueror an annual tribute. But pride or reverence for
the customs of his forefathers impelled tbe Eajah to court
an early death in the flames of his own funeral pile ; and
his son Anandpal mounted the tottering throne of Kashmir
and Labor.
One of his feudatories, the Rajah of Bhatnir,* on the
northern edge of what is now the Bikanir Desert, refused
to pay his share of the promised tribute. Mahmud turned
upon him with his wonted energy ; but Bijai Rai and his
bold Rajputs fought with the desperate courage of their
race, and not till after many repulses did the Iconoclast
Sultan of Ghazni succeed in driving them into their last
stronghold. At length the Rajah slew himself in his
despair, and his forfeit realm was annexed to the do-
minions of the conqueror. For the latter, fresh work had
meanwhile been cut out by the rebel governor of Miiltan,
which had passed some time before under the Jloham-
madan yoke. This business settled and a Tartar inroad
from Kashgar promptly repelled, Mahmud once more set
out to punish the Rajah of Labor for help given to the
Sultan's foes.
Again a gi-eat Hindu army, gathered from all parts of
Upper India, and equipped with the aid of money raised
on the gold and jewels of patriotic Hindu women, crossed
the Indus and spread out in magnificent array over the
* It waa once the chief city of Bhatiana, or the land of the Bhatis,
an old Rajput tribe, traces of whose former civilisation are still found .
in the many ruined towns and villages scattered over the sandy wastes
once watered by the Gagar and the Chitang.
48 HISTORY OF INDIA.
broad plain that stretches np to the Khaibar. For forty
days the armies faced each other. At length the Hindus
advanced to the attack, or, as some say, to meet a feint
attack on the part of Mahmud, whose skilful soldiership
made up for his inferior numbers. For a time fortune
smiled on Anandpal. His strong contingent of ■wild high-
landers from Kashmir soon drove the Turkish archers
back to their entrenchments ; the main Ime of Hindus
swept forward as sure of victory over the hated Moslem,
when suddenly the elephant ridden by Anandpal himself
took fright at the arrows and burning naphtha-balls, and
fled. Other elephants followed his example. Quick to
profit by the consequent disorder, Mahmud hurled his
Tartar horsemen in masses upon the foe. That day their
swords drank deep of blood, if it be true that twenty
thousand of Anandpal's soldiers perished on the field.
The plunder of Xagarkot and its richly-endowed temples
sufliced the conqueror for that present. Three years later,
however, he swooped down upon the yet hoher shrines of
Thanesar, in Sirhind, only sixty miles from Dehli itself.
Before the Hindu princes could rally to its defence, Mah-
mud was on his way home, laden with untold wealth in
gold and jewels, while two hundred thousand captives, say
the Arab chroniclers, were sold as slaves among the people
of Ghazni. StiU thirsting for fresh plunder, the Moslem
hordes, in the name of their Prophet, swept down the
Jamna as far as Mattra, in the j-ear 1017, and canied off
the gold and silver idols from a hundred shrines, besides
levying rich tribute from Kanauj and other cities in their
way.
Mahmud's heavy hand next fell upon Anandpal, who
seems to have leagued with other princes in punishing the
Eajah of Kanauj for making terms with the invader. La-
bor, at any rate, was sacked in 1021, and its unfortunate
monarch fled to Ajmir. Two years later Gwahor opened
its gates to the formidable Sultan. But the best remem-
THE EARLY MOHAMIIADAN CONQUESTS. 49
bered, if not the greatest, of Malimud's Indian campaigns
was that of 1024, which issued in the captm-e of Somnath,
on the coast of Gujarat, one of the holiest and wealthiest
shrines in all India. Endowed with the revenue of two
thousand villages, and blest with the ministrations of as
many Brahmans, to say nothing of the hundreds of bar-
bers, minstrels, and dancing-girls, who waited on the pre-
siding god, this far-famed temple-stronghold was for three
days besieged in vain. At length, in one last despaii-ing
onset, led by Mahmiid himself, the besiegers stormed the
place, slaving thousands of its defenders, and dealing
havoc among the holy things. One huge idol the priests
entreated and would have bribed their conquerors to spare.
But Mahmiid, who gloried in the name of idol-breaker,
struck the figure -n-ith his mace ; the blows of his followers
shattered it in pieces ; and jewels of untold value rolled
out in ghttering heaps upon the floor.* Laden with these
unforeseen spoils and the sandal-wood gates of Somnath,
the plunder-loving Sultan marched home a year later
through the dreary deserts of Sindh, where thousands of
his followers perished by the way. Gujarat itself, like
most of the provinces overnin by Mahmiid, was left under
the sway of a tributary prince.
In the year 1030, soon after Persia had fallen under
the yoke of Ghazni, death put an end to the terrible
Sultan's career. For a century and a half his dynasty
held its ground with varying fortunes iu the country
beyond the Indus. In India, however, it never gained
any permanent footing eastward of Labor. Mahmiid's
espeditions, indeed, had been Kttle else than enormous raids,
and his successors were too busy in fighting foes nearer
home to keep in order their Hindu tributaries between the
Satlaj and the Ganges. Before the middle of the eleventh
century the king of Dehh threw off the Moslem yoke,
* Thornton denies the truth of this story about the jewels, as having
been nnJaiown to the earlier chroniclers.
50 HISTORY OF INDIA.
other princes rallied to his side, and but for the desperate
defence of its starving garrison, Lahor itself would have
been rescued from the grasp of its new masters. In the
middle of the twelfth century that city became the last
refuge of the Ghaznevid Sultans, when the rest of their
possessions had been torn from them by the Saljukian
Turks and their own kinsmen, the Afghan princes of Ghor.
Thirty years later the descendants of Sabaktagin ceased
to reign in thePanjab also. In the year 1186, Shahab-nd-
din of Ghor, better known to history as Mohammad Ghori,
crowned his former successes against Khusru Malik, the
Ghaznevid Sultan of Lahor, by seizing his capital and
bearing the Sultan himself a prisoner to Ghor, where
Mohammad's elder brother then held his com-t. Master
of the Panjab from Peshawar to Multiin, Mohammad pre-
sently led his warriors across the Satlaj to meet the alhed
Hindu hosts of DehU and Ajmir on the banks of the
sacred Saraswati. A great battle, fought near Thanesar,
ended in the rout of the invaders ; and Mohammad, after
a hot pursuit, was glad to place the Indus between his
shattered forces and the foe. Two years later, in 1193,
the beaten prince, burning for revenge, threw out fresh
Bwarms of horsemen over the fair fields of Sirhind.
Prithiraj, King of Dehli, his former foe, awaited him on
the old battle-field, at the head of an immense array of
horse and foot, marshalled imder the foremost princes
of Hindustan. The night before the battle which was to
decide the fate of so many ancient kingdoms was spent by
the Hindus in careless merriment, by the Turks in quiet
preparations for attack. Before dawn Mohammad had
crossed the Saraswati and weU-nigh taken his opponents
unawares. Still, with ranks hastily formed, they withstood
for a time his most determined onsets. At length he
ordered a retreat. The Hindus, in the eagerness of their
pursuit, fell into disorder. Twelve thousand Turkish
horsemen, led by Mohammad himself, thundered down
TEE EARLY MOHilDIADAN CONQUESTS. 51
into their broken ranks. The best and bravest of their
leaders were slain or captured, and the shattered remnants
of that proud army fled from a field reeking with the
blood of their dead and dying countrymen.
On that fatal day Aryan India lost far more than thou-
sands of precious lives and the accumulated treasures of
a vast camp. From this second battle of Narayan dates
the true beginning of India's long subjection to Moham-
madan rule. After staining his victory with the slaughter
of his royal captive, Prithiraj, and of many thousand
Hindus whom the storming of Ajmir thi'ew into his
clutches, the resolute Ghorian made over his new con-
quests to his ablest general, Kutab-ud-din, who speedOy
carried his arms as far south as Koel, the modem AJigarh,
and fixed the seat of his government in Dehli itself. Next
year Mohammad, with a fresh army, returned from Ghazni
to overthrow the immemorial kingdom of Kanauj and
destroy or defUe the temples of idolatrous Hindus at
Banaras. On this occasion the Rhators of Kanauj, one of
the oldest Kajput tribes, sought honourable exile among
the rocks and sandhills of Marwar, where they founded
the stiU-existent kingdom and dynasty of Jodpur.
Year by year the Mohammadan arms were carried by
Mohammad or his generals, with almost unvarying success,
now westward of the Jamna to Gwahor, Chitor, and even
Gujarat, anon down the valley of the Lower Ganges into
the heart of Bengal. If the Kajput princes of Upper
India fought long and manfully against their doom, it took
Kutab-ud-din's soldiers but one year to bring the rich
plains and populous cities of Bengal under the Moslem
yoke. Nadiya, the Hindu capital, was given over to
plunder, and the seat of the new government fixed at
Gaur, on a branch of the Lower Ganges, a city whose
vast circuit of verdure-covered ruins stiU reveals some
noteworthy traces of Mohammadan genius in the domain
of architecture. Ruthless in destroying the idols and pU-
£2
52 HISTORY OF INDIA.
laging the holy places of the Hindus, the Mussulman con-
querors of India in the thirteenth and fourteenth centui'ies
adorned their cities with mosques, palaces, tombs, and
other buildings, conspicuous for bold outlines, square
masses, and severe simplicity of detail. To the polished
THE KUTAB-MINAR, DEULI.
masterpieces of a later day, whose glories blossomed in
the graceful gi-aadeur of IBijapur, Ahmadabad, Jaunpm-,
Fathipiir Sikri, and bore ripest frait in the buildings
reared at Agra and Dehli by Shiihjahan, this old Pathan
architecture bore much the same relation that the towers
THE EAKLY MOHAMMADAN CONQUESTS. 53
of Exeter Cathedral bear to those of Canterbury, or the
nave of Gloucester to the chapel of Hemy VII. at West-
minster.'-'
On the murder of Mohammad Ghori in 1205 by some
Panjabi hUl-men, who thus requited him for his cruel
treatment of their countrj-men, Mohammad's faithful vice-
roy, Kutab-ud-din, was invested by the dead king's suc-
cessor with the sovereignty of Hindustan. The crown
which he assumed at Labor in 1206 he hved to wear but
four years. His slave and son-in-law, Altamsh, whom the
nobles of the new kingdom chose for their nest ruler, had
a stormy reign of twenty-five years, during which he
repelled an invasion from Ghazni, wrested Sindh from a
Mussulman rival, conquered Malwa, up to that time ruled
by a prince of the great Yiki-am's hue, captured the strong
fort of Gwahor, and re-established his sway over the re-
beUious governors of Bengal. Of aU the old Hindu king-
doms in Northem India there remained scarcely one out-
side the Mohammadan rule. A few princes were allowed
stUl to reign on condition of paying tribute ; but fai- the
greater part of the country was governed directly by rulers
of the conquering race.
It was in this reign that the Great Khan of Tartai-y,
* The monuments of early Pathan art in or near DelJi include the
Kutab Minor, one of the loftiest and most striking pillars in the world.
The pointed arch first takes its place in Pathan buildings of the thir-
teenth century. At Bijapiir, in Sattara, the great dome of Mohammad
Adil Shah's mausoleum, built in the first years of the seventeenth cen-
tury, deserves special notice. The Jama Masjid of Ahmadabad, built
by Ahmad Shah in the fifteenth century, with its fifteen domes upheld
by 2C0 pillars, and the delicate lattice work of its stone screens, may
rank among the most beautiful of Eastern mosques. At Ahmadabad
and Jaimpur the influence of Hindu on Mohammadan art is clearly
traceable. The great mosque at Fathipur Sikri, twenty miles south-
west of Agra, with its glorious gateways, vast quadrangle, and majestic
cloisters, attests from the hill on which it stands the piety and the
splendid taste of the great Akbar, who also built at Dehli, in honom of
his father Hnmayun, a marble monument second only as a work of art
to its younger rival, the Taj at Agra.
61 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Chingiz Khan, the scourge of Asia, swept with his countless
hordes of Mongol horsemen, like a lava-flood, over the
■vast regions between the Caspian and the Pacific, over-
throwing the Turkish monarchy of Kliarizm, and chasing
the son of its Sultan, who had also reigned in Kabul,
beyond the Indus. Had Altamsh listened to the prayer of
the fugitive prince, India also might have been involved in
the general ruin. But Jalal-ud-din had to flee elsewhither,
and the terrible Tartar contented himself with a flying
raid through Sindh. Three centuries more had to elapse
before a conqueror of the race of Chingiz founded a new
empire in Hindustan.
On the death of Altamsh in 1236 his sceptre passed
into the hands of a son, who was speedily set aside by his
manly-hearted sister Rizia, whose only fault, says the his-
torian Ferishta, lay in her being a woman. Her vigorous
but troubled reign of three years collapsed in a rising
among her nobles, who resented the favours she bestowed
on her Abyssinian slave. Carried oflf a prisoner to Ba-
thinda, she won the heart of her captor, became his wife,
and, with his help, took the field against her rebellious
brother Bairam. Fortune, however, again deserted her
arms, and her second imprisonment was speedily followed
by her violent death.
In the six foOowing years two princes of the house of
Altamsh successively exchanged the throne of Dehli for
imprisonment and death at the hand of their restless or
insulted nobles. Mahmud, a younger son of Altamsh,
was then called to the throne, which he held for twenty
years, dying peacefully in his bed after a series of success-
fill struggles with the Hindu warriors of Rajputana, Bun-
dalkhand, and other revolted or independent states. His
nephew, Sher Khan, even succeeded in driving the
Moghal invaders out of Ghazni and reannexing it to the
throne of Dehli. His successor, Balban, a Turkish slave
whose merits had won him the hand of a daughter of
THE EARLY MOHAMMADAN CONQUESTS. 55
Altamsli and raised him to the post of Wazir, or prime
minister, under Mahmiid, stepped without difficulty, but
not without bloodshed, into the latter's place. Having in
true Turkish fashion got rid of his foremost rivals, he
ruled the country for twenty years with a strong but by
no means heavy hand, except when he had to put down a
revolt in Bengal or to enforce his edicts against wine and
open profligacy. His death, at a ripe old age, was
hastened by gi-ief for the loss of his favourite son Moham-
mad, who fell in the flush of victory over his Moghal
foes. His splendid court, filled with poets, artists, philo-
sophers from many lands, and refugee princes from the
realms overrun by Chingiz and his successors, furnished a
congenial theme for the pens of fervid historians. It is
worthy of remark, however, that the prince who thus
opened his doors to high-bom or accomphshed strangers,
had little mercy to spare for the subject Hindus. Not one
of that race, we are told, was allowed by him to rise in
the service of the State.
56
CHAPTER n.
THE KHILJI DYNASTY OF DEHLI, A.D. 1288 1321.
Two years after Balban's death, Jalal-ud-dm Firoz, a chief
of the Khilji tribe that dwelt in the Afghan mountains,
founded a new dynasty in the hlood of Balban's worthless
grandson, Kai-kobad. In the fifth year of his reign a
Mussulman army, led by his nephew Ala-ud-din, began
that series of invasions which was to end in the conquest
of Southern India. Laden with the untold plunder of
Deogarh, the modem Daulatabad, a famous hill-fort be-
longing to the Yadava kings of Maharashtra, the victorious
nephew returned home to plot, to compass in the most
treacherous manner, the death of his confiding old uncle
in the seventh year of his reign. This murder having
been presently followed up by that of the king's two sons,
Ala-ud-din mounted the vacant throne. His reign of
twenty years was opened by the reconquest of Gujarat and
the capture of its Rajput queen, who lived to adorn the
conqueror's haram. Next year his own strength and the
courage of his troops were yet more severely tried in
repelling the Loroads of a vast body of Moghal horsemen,
who swept Northern India up to the very gates of his
capital. A great battle in the plains near the Satlaj
issued in the rout of the invaders, but the victory was
dearly won by the death of the Pathan monarch's ablest
general. A second inroad took place in 1303, while half
of Ala-ud-din's army was engaged in a fresh invasion of
Southern India, and he himself was about to lead thither
another army flushed with the recent plunder of Chitor in
THE KHIIJI DYNASTY OF DEHLI. 57
Eajpntana.* The sudden retreat of the Moghals from
the land they had wasted to their heart's content, was
followed by their reappearance in 1305 and 1306. Once
more the choicest warriors of Islam advanced, says their
historian,! "Uke clouds and raiu" against the infidel
Tartars, and falling on them " like a raging storm" drove
them with tremendous slaughter across the Indus.
" Countless infidels were dispatched to heU," and many
thousands were taken prisoners. With a cruelty not alto-
gether unprovoked, the merciless Sultan ordered that his
male captives should all be slain and beaten up into
mortar for the Fort at Dehli. A bastion or pillar was
likewise formed out of their heads.
Free from further alarms on his Western border, the
energetic Sultan sent his general, Kafur, a promoted slave,
to enforce payment of the tribute due from the Rajah of
Deogarh. Yielding to necessity, the Rajah sued for easy
and obtained hberal terms. Three years afterwards the
same general subdued the kingdom of Warangiil, to the
south of the Godavari, not very far fi-om the modem
Haidarabad. In besieging the waUed town of Warangul
the Mussulmans pUed their "Western catapults" with
such efifect that the earthen walls were "pounded into
dust " by the incessant shower of heavy stones. When
the besiegers had stormed the outer works of the city,:j:
its defenders lost heart and sued for terms. Little was
gi-anted them except their lives. Under fierce threats of
* Dming these centuries of trouble the Hindu princes, if they failed
to avert disaster, knew at least how to die. Hopeless of resistance, the
Queen of Chitor with the noblest of her ladies perished in the flames
of their own kindling, while the Rajah and his faithful followers were
finding the death they sought on the weapons of the foe. A similar
issue had marked the siege of Rhantambhor in 1299.
t Mir Khusrii, author of the Tarikh-i-Alai, which narrates the
history of Ala-ud-din down to A.D. 1310. See Sir H. Elliot's "History
of India as told by its own Historians," vol. iii.
J According to .-mother historian, Bami, the besiegers took the out-
works by escalade.
58 HISTORY OF INDIA.
a general massacre, the unfortunate Rajah had to make all
his treasures over to the conqueror, who returned to Dehli
laden with the gathered wealth of a kingdom which for
centuries had thriven peacefully under its Hindu lords.
A hundred elephants, seven thousand horses, and treasure
enough to load a thousand camels, were the visible tokens
of Kafir's success. His new conquest remained imder
the rule of its Rajah, Laddar Deo, on condition of his
paying a yearly tribute to the Sultan.*
The following year saw Maabar, the modem Carnatic,
overrun by the same commander, who left his footmarks
everywhere in plundered cities, ruined temples, and idols
broken into pieces or carried off as part of the prize. On
his march south-eastward across the highlands of Maisor,
he sacked the city of Dwar-Samudra, and defaced the
beautiful temple which a king of the Belial line had just
reared in honour of Siva.t After bearing his standard to
Madura, if not to Cape Comorin, and building a mosque
at some place on the sea-coast opposite Ceylon, Kafiir
returned to Dehh in 1311 with a booty the like of which
his countrymen there had never before seen. According
to the native chroniclers, it included sis hundred and
twelve elephants, ninety-sis thousand mans of gold,|
several boses of pearls and jewels, and twenty thousand
horses. To each of his higher officers the Sultan dis-
tributed the gold in shares, ranging from half a man to
four mans.
Once more, in 1312, Kafiir invaded the Dakhan, to
punish the refractory Prince of Deogarh, receive tribute
from Warangiil, and send home fi-esh spoils from con-
quered countries. Meanwhile his master, Ala-ud-din,
* Kafiir's army appears to have been reinforced by large numbers of
Mar^tha horse and foot furnished by the Kajah of Deojrarh.
t Supposed to be the great temple of Halibed in Maisor, a marvel
of florid decoration,
X A man or maund equals about 80 lbs. weight EngHsh.
THE KHILJI DYNASTY OF DEHLI. 69
wreaked a fearful vengeance on the "new Mussulmans,"
or converted Moghals, who had been taken into his ser-
vice or allowed to settle on his lands. Suddenly reduced
by his orders to poverty and forced idleness, some of
them plotted to seize, if not to slay, the ruler who was
accused of grinding down his subjects with fines and
heavy burdens, and enforcing with cruel penalties the
prohibitions of the Koran against wine and other strong
drinks. In meeting this new danger, Ala-ud-din gave full
swing to his own bloodthirsty nature ; twenty thousand
Moghals, most of whom knew nothing of the plot, being
by his orders slaughtered in one day.
Throughout his reign, Ala-ud-din seems to have be-
trayed in turn the most opposite workings of a strong but
ill-balanced nature. A cruel tyrant, he yet gave heed at
times to the counsels of his more outspoken advisers, and
made some attempts to administer a rude sort of justice
among his people. From a life of the grossest debauchery
he could pass for some years into one of outwai-d temper-
ance and self-denial. Illiterate himself, he encouraged
the presence of learned men at his court, and even deigned
for their sake to master the rudiments of the Persian lan-
guage.* Utterly ruthless towards friends or foes who
might have stii-red up his bile against them, he would
sometimes listen with good humour, or at least with
patience, to advice offered him under the faith of his
kingly word. If he plotted the death of one of his bravest
officers, he never tired of heaping favours on another who,
all the whUe, was planning how to wrest the sceptre from
his heirs. Fines, confiscations, and plunder went far to
fill his treasury ; but he checked the hcense of his nobles,
tried to put down bribery and extortion among his revenue
collectors, and punished with summary sternness every
* Bami, however, says that he "never associated with men of
learning."
GO HISTORY OF INDIA.
shopkeeper who was caught dealing in false weights or
measures against the poor.*
In order to keep down the turbulence of his nobles, the
exactions of his public servants, and to enforce obedience
to his many stern decrees, Ala-ud-din maintained an army
of spies and informers, who reported regularly whatever
they might see or hear, even in the most private places.
So great was the dread of them that many a noble dared
hardly speak aloud in his own palace. A special edict,
moreover, forbade the nobles and great men from giving
feasts, holding meetings, marrying or giving in marriage
without the Sultan's leave, or admitting strange guests
into their houses. No wonder that feasting and hos-
pitality fell into disuse, that the sarais, or public resting-
places, were cleared of plotters, and that treason for a
time became too perilous a game even for the boldest to
play at, when his trustiest-seeming comrade might prove
to be his direst foe.
Among other classes rebellion was to be disarmed by
other means, such as heavy imposts, arbitrary fines, and
sweeping resumptions of freehold estates. To the mass
of the Sultan's subjects money became a thing unknown,
and the people, says Barni, "were all so absorbed in
obtaining the means of living, that the name of rebellion
was never mentioned." For the millions of Hindus who
had passed under the Mohammadan yoke this was indeed
a time of bitter suffering. Like the Jews in Europe at
that very date, they were fleeced and harried at every
turn. From the jidya, or poll-tax, to the rack-rent levied
on the land in the shape of half the gross produce, no
effort was spared to reduce them to a common poverty.
* According to Barni, boys Tvere frequently sent into the bazar to
test the honesty of the shopkeepers. If one of these gave short
weight, the inspector went to his shop, "took from it what was de-
ficient, and afterwards cut from his haunches an equal weight of flesh,
which was tliromi down before his eyes." — Sir H. Elliot's " History of
Iiidia," vol. iii. p. 190,
THE KHILJI DYNASTY OF DEHLI. 61
The poorest Hindu was taxed for the goat that gave him
milk ; his neighbour for the bullock that ploughed his bit
of land. To ride their own horses and wear fiue clothing
were luxuries reserved for very few of the subject race.
Threats and blows enforced the tax-gatherer's merciless
demands. No Hindu, says the historian,* " could hold
up his head, and in theu- bouses no sign of gold or silver
or of any superfluity was to be seen." So hard became
the struggle to live that the wives of Hindu landowners
were often fain to serve for hire in the houses of the
Mussulmans.
Nor did their troubles end here. It was the Sultan's
ambition to keep up a large army on a low rate of pay —
an achievement possible only if the price of provisions
could be kept down. " The second Alexander," as he
delighted in calling himself, proceeded to fix the market-
prices of various gi'ains. A good deal of the " tribute "
or land-revenue was by his orders levied in kind. With
the grain thus regularly accruing he filled his granaries.
The grain-dealers were forced to sell again at a low
uniform rate the corn which the raiyats, or peasants,
had been forced to sell them after satisfying the wants
of the royal treasury. In times of drought and dearth
the royal gi-anaries threw open their stores at the market-
rates. Eegrating was punished by heavy fines and for-
feiture of the stock held back from sale. Any attempt to
raise the market-prices was further checked by the punish-
ment of the market -overseer himself. Horses, cattle,
slaves, fruit, vegetables, grocery, shoes, needles, every-
thing, in short, exposed for sale in the bazars or market-
places had its value strictly regulated and kept down by
royal command. Nothing might be exported, while im-
portation was freely encouraged. Hours were fixed for
opening and closing shops. The monarch's will, in short,
became law, overriding even the precepts of the Koran
* Barni " Tirikh-i-Firoz Shahi."
62 nisTonv or india.
whenever these might clash with his own views of right
and expediency. If his zeal for regulating everything led
often to absurd injustice, or provoked repeated evasions of
intolerable edicts, he appears at least to have succeeded
in maintaining a cheap army, in keeping a tight hand on
his unruly nobles, and in making life a sore burden to the
mass of his Hindu subjects.
For some years of his reign Ala-ud-din governed vigor-
ously and T\-ith fair success. Peace and order flourished
everywhere ; the nobles were quiet, the people outwardly
loyal ; life and property were pretty safe on the highways.
Splendid buildings adorned his capital, and noble tanks
stored up their water for the use of the dwellers in large
tovfns. At length, however, the worse traits of his cha-
racter and conduct began to bear answering fruit. The
arrogance which had formerly shown itself in schemes for
setting up a new religion, now tempted him to exchange
his able ministers for worthless eunuchs and slaves who
only pandered to his love of pleasure. A dropsy, brought
on or heightened by self-indulgence, increased the violence
of his temper. Mistrustful of most men, he yielded him-
self blindly into the hands of his cunning favourite — his
partner in the foulest profligacy — Kafur. Under this
man's baneful influence he ordered the death of his
brother-in-law and the imprisonment of his two elder sons.
His nobles at length began to plot against him. Gujarat
broke into fierce rebellion. Chitor was wrested from Mos-
lem rule by the famous Rajput chief Hamir, and the son-
in-law of Ram Deo drove the Mohammadans out of Ma-
harashtra. On heai-ing of these manifold disasters, the
death-stricken monarch is said to have bitten his own flesh
with rage. He died soon afterwards in the last days of
the year 1316 ; and Kafur, rightly or wrongly, was widely
credited with a direct share in his death.
That he meant to profit by it was at once made clear
enough by his seizure of the government, under a show of
THE KHILJl DYNASTY OF DEHLI. 03
acting as guardian to the youngest son and pretended heir
of the late king. The eyes of the two eldest sons were
put out by his orders, and nothing but his own death at
the hands of some officers of the palace-gnard saved the
family of his late master from the doom which so often
follows a change of dynasties, or even of kindi-ed ralers, in
the East.
The third son of the late king, Mobarak, had no sooner
regained his own freedom, and mounted the throne under
the title of Kutab-ud-din, than he too proceeded to assure
his hold of it by blinding his youngest brother and slaying
the officers to whom he owed his life and sceptre. His
short reign of four years opened well with the release of
many thousand pohtical prisoners, the restoration of much
confiscated land, and the annulling of nearly all the harsh
laws devised by his father. The Hindus breathed freely
under a king who refused to tax them to the starving-point,
and the Mussulmans once more took their pleasure without
fear of spies and cruel tortures. While an able general
suppressed the revolt in Gujarat, the king himself marched
into the Dakhan, retook the stronghold of Deogarh, and
hunted the rebel leader, Hai-pal, out of his last hiding-
place to a horrible death : he was flayed alive by order of
the Sultan.
Leaving his favourite Khusru, a converted Hindu, to
overrun the Carnatic, Kutab-ud-din returned to Dehh.
There, amidst his wine-cups, his women, and his flatterers,
he gave small heed to passing affairs, except when a plot
discovered or a rebellion suppressed might rouse him into
a burst of vindictive savagery. At length he too fell an
nnpitied victim to the treachery of his trusted follower
lihnsrii, who clinched his crime by slaughtering all those
members of the royal family whom his master had spared.
Only for a few months, however, did the renegade Hindu
enjoy his blood-bought crovra. Ghazi Khan Toghlak,
Governor of the Panjab, led his veterans against the
01 HISTORY OF INDIA.
usurper. The victory of Indrapat, crowned bj- the seizure
and beheading of Khusru, opened Dehli to the conqueror,
who was hailed by his Mussulman countrymen as their
deliverer from the yoke of " Hindus and Parwaris."*
* These Parwaris were a body of retainers from Gujarat.
65
CHAPTER III.
THE TOGHLAK, SAIYID, AND LODI DYNASTIES, A.D. 1321
1526.
Not one of the house of Khilji being found alive, Toghlak
mounted the throne of Dehli with the title of Ghiyas-ud-
din. Under the mild rule of this son of a Turkish slave
by a Hindu mother the country prospered, the Moham-
madans breathed freely, and even the Hindus had little
cause to regret the change. After setting his finances in
order and lowering the land-rents to a pitch so moderate
that fresh fields might yearly be brought under the plough,
the new king proceeded to strengthen his frontiers against
the Moghals. In 1322 his son Juna IQian was deputed
to invade Telingana and bring the refractory ruler of Wa-
rangiil to terms. Repulsed with heavy losses on the first
attack, he succeeded the next year in capturing the city
and bearing its Rajah prisoner to Dehli. The name of the
city was changed to Sultanpiir, and Mussulman oflicers
were left in charge of the conquered province. The king's
arms were equally successful against the Moghal invader
on the north-west.
Next year the king himself marched into Laknauti, or
Bengal, where the son of his old master, Balban, still held
an almost independent sway.* After bestowing on Karra
Ivhan a royal umbrella in token of kingly rank, and reduc-
ing to obedience the revolted provinces of Dakha and
Jaunpur, he returned homewards, only to be crushed to
* See page 55.
66 HISTOr.Y OF INDIA.
death, by design or accident, in the pavihon which his son
had built for his reception at Toghlakabad.
Juna Ivhan, who succeeded him in 1325 under the title
of Mohammad Toghlak, appears to have been one of the
most gifted, wayward, wrong-headed, and merciless princes
of his age. Deeply read in Persian and Ai-abic lore,
equally at home in Greek philosophy and the physical
sciences, a good mathematician, a renowned orator and
letter-wi'iter, endowed with a wonderful memory, of tem-
perate habits, dauntless courage, invincible energy, in word
and deed a pious Mussulman,* he bade fair to outtop the
highest achievements of any former reign. But the curse
of absolute power, working on a heated brain, a proud
heart, and a fierce, unbridled temper, turned all that teem-
ing promise to naught ; and the wonder of his age Hved to
become its direst scourge.
His first measure, the payment of a heavy bribe to get
rid of the Moghals who had invaded the Panjab, was
rewarded with a success it hardly deserved. The same
good fortune, with better reason, followed his standard
into Southern India, nearly all of which became tho-
roughly subjected to his rule. From Gujarat to Chitta-
gong, from Labor to Madm-a, stretched an empire wider
than that of Aurangzib. But Mohammad hungered after
new conquests. Three hundred and seventy thousand
horsemen, according to Barni, were held for a whole year
in readiness to enter Khorasiin. The cost of then- main-
tenance, however, emptied his treasury, and the troops,
collected for the conquest of Persia, repaid themselves on
their way home with the plunder of their own people.
A few years later, in 1337, the restless Sultan sought
to replenish a di'ained exchequer by thi'owing another
* " No learned or scientific man, or scribe, or poet, or wit, or phy-
sician, could have presumed," says Barni, " to argue with him about
his own special pursuit, nor would he have been able to maintain his
position against the throttling arguments of the Sultan."
THE TOGHLAK, SAIYID, AND LODI DYNASTIES. 67
large army somewhere across the Himalayas into Chinese
Turkistan.* Checked in their advance by the courage or
the numbers of the Chinese ; wasted by hardships, dis-
ease, and the attacks of the hill-tribes in their rear, very
few of the hundred thousand who set forth on that fatal
errand survived the perils of a yet more ruinous retreat
through fever-breathing forests and flooded plains.
Meanwhile Mohammad seems to have tried all manner
of devices for recruiting his diminished revenues. New
cesses on the land reduced the bulk of the rahjats, or
peasants, to utter beggary, thousands of them lea\'ing
their untilled fields to roam the jungles in quest of food,
or to lurk about the highways in hopes of plunder.
Drought and high prices, the fruit in great measure of
these exactions, brought on a famine which raged in the
Ganges valley for several years, slaying " thousands upon
thousands " of starving wretches, and breaking up many a
household whose forefathers had dwelt for centuries in the
same village. Large tracts of fruitful country were re-
duced to desert. In trying to mend matters the Sultan
only made them worse. His scheme for cii'culating copper
tokens of an artificial value in the place of gold and silver
succeeded only in deranging the course of trade and
enlarging the circle of popular suflTering, without restoring
the shattered finnnces of the state.
In this state of things, discontent, disorder, and rebel-
lion grew more and more rife. Hardly had Miiltan been
reduced to obedience, when the king's nephew rose against
him in the Dakhan, and a Mussulman noble drove the
king's ofiicers out of Bengal. With his usual energy
Mohammad turned upon his assailants. His nephew was
defeated, taken, and flayed aHve. A popular outbreak n
* Barai talks of a inarch towards " the mountain of Karajal," which
" Ues between the territories of Hind and those of China.'' The cap-
ture of this mountain was somehow to aid Mohammad in his still-
cherished designs on Khorasan,
f2
03 HISTORY OF IXDUt
the Do!vli, or country between the Jamna and the Ganges,
■was suppressed with hideous slaughter of innocent thou-
sands. The gi'eat city of Kanauj was given over to a
general massacre. "While one of his officers was putting
down a revolt in Lahor, the king himself marched from
Deogarh to deal with a like disturbance in the Carnatic.
Cholera, however, made such inroads into his camp at
Warangul, that he withdrew his troops to Deogarh, him-
self half dead from the same disease ; and presently Wa-
rangul also threw off the imperial yoke. It is mentioned
as a master-flight of whimsical self-conceit, that a tooth
he had lost on his way homewards was buried with great
pomp under a stately mausoleum at Bhir.
It was about this time that Mohammad's liking for
Deogarh issued in a rash and disastrous attempt to sub-
stitute that place for Dehli as the seat of his rule. He
changed its name to Daulatabad. When his new capital
had been adorned with new buildings and strengthened
with new lines of defence, he commanded the people of
Dehli to leave the city, whose gi-owing splendour had kept
pace with the growth of Mohammadan conquests, and to
march with all their household goods to the homes he had
chosen for them beyond the Satpiira hills. The road
thither had been planted with full-grown trees ; but thou-
sands perished from the toils of that long jom-ney, and as
many more filled the graveyards of Daulatabad. Ere long
the survivors were allowed to retm-n home, but once more,
under pain of death, were they compelled to emigrate
afresh. The new capital, however, was not fated to pros-
per on the nxins of the old. Dehli was again repeopled,
and Mohammad's last years were chiefly spent in the city
that towers along the Jamna.
Those years were troubled with fresh storms, and fresh
disasters followed each other, in spite of the Sultan's high
abilities and of the countenance bestowed upon him by the
nominal head of Islam, the reigning Khalif of Egypt.
THE TOGHLAK, SAIYID, AND LODI DYNASTIES. 09
Famine still raged in the Doab. His ■well-meant efforts to
improve the revenue by bringing waste lands under tillage
seem to have ended only in emiching a crew of official
hai-pies at the public expense. Terrible punishments
goaded his subjects into fresh outbreaks. The unpro-
voked slaughter of eighty "foreign Amirs," or converted
Moghal settlers, by his willing tool, the governor of Malwa,
roused their countrj-men in Gujarat into a rebellion, the
scene of which was afterwards shifted to Daulatabad.
After wasting the former province with fire and sword,
Mohammad hastened into the Dakhan ; but while he was
besieging Daulatabad, the news of a fresh rising recalled
him into Gujarat. Here he was again successful ; but
meanwhile the Dakhan was slipping surely out of his
grasp. With the help of the governor of Malwa the in-
surgents drove the king's troops across the Narbadha ;
and their new leader, Hasan Gangu, became the fii-st king
of an independent Bahmani line, whose sway was to
flourish for the next hundred and eighty years.
Gujarat reduced to order and desolation, the active
monarch turned his arms against Sindh, whose princes
had given shelter to the fugitives from the neighbouring
province. In spite of ill health he was pushing on towards
Tatta, on the Indus, when death, hastened by a hearty
meal of fish, brought all his cares, schemes, and follies to a
sudden close, in the twenty-sixth year of his unquiet reign.
Seldom has a prince of hke capacity laboured with a will
so froward for his own undoing. The erewhile master of
nearly the whole Indian peninsula had lived to see one
province after another faU away from his sceptre. It was
more than two centuries before an emperor of Dehli again
held actual sway over the Mussulman lords of Bengal.
For nearly the same period Bijayanagar, cradled among
rugged hills on the right bank of the Tumbadra, remained
the seat of a powerful Hindu realm, at one time reaching
southwards to Madiu'a. The Hindu Eajahs of Telingana
70 HISTORY OF INDIA.
fixed their capital for about eighty years at Warangiil, and
when that stronghold fell into the hands of a Bahmani
prince, they continued for another century to hold the rest
of their dominions on the Kistna and the Godavari by
right of their own strong arms. Kulbarga, in the valley
of the Upper Kistna, became the chief seat of the Bah-
mani* princes already named, whose sway extended east-
ward from the sea to Berar, and from the Tiipti southward
to the Tumbadra. Several other provinces, such as Malwa
and Gujarat, were either in full revolt or smarting under
heavy punishment for past outbreaks, when Mohammad
Toghlak breathed his last.
His nephew and successor, Firoz Shah, made a vigorous
but vain attempt to reconquer Bengal. By the treaties
afterwards concluded with that province and the Dakhan,
he accepted the issue he could no longer avert. + A sub-
sequent expedition into Sindh resulted in the nominal sub-
mission of the Jam of Tatta, a Rajput of the dynasty
which had lately succeeded the old Sumera line. With
these exceptions and that of a temporary rising in Guja-
rat, his reign for many years was peaceful and prosperous,
and marked by not a few wholesome enactments. The
savage punishments and tortures inflicted by former rulers
were nearly all done away. I A great manv small and
* Hasan Gangu, founder of the dynasty, is said by Ferishta to have
been an Afghan husbandman, settled near Dehli on the estate of a
Brahman whose favour he had won by handing over to him some
treasure found on the estate. The Brahman seems to have had friends
at court, to whose notice he recommended his tenant. Taking his
patron's name, Hasan rose in the king's service, and when he too
became a king, he added the name of Bahmani in honour of the
friendly Brahman.
t The rulers of those provinces seem still to have paid tribute to
Dehli, but were otherwise independent sovereigns.
J " Amputation of hands and feet, ears and noses ; tearing oat the
eyes, pouring molten lead into the throat, crushing the bones of the
hands and feet with mallets, burning the body with fire, driving iron
nuils into the hands, feet, and bosom, cutting the sinews, sawing men
THE TOGHLAK, SAIYID, AND LODI DYNASTIES. 71
vexatious imposts were removed. The victims of his
uncle's cruelty he consoled with gifts or restored to their
forfeit honours. Lands wrested from their former owners
were given back to them or their heirs. The needy and
the unemployed he supphed with work. Learning was
encouraged, vice in its worse and more open forms sternly
repressed, and luxury discountenanced by the king's own
example.
A devout Mussulman, he gave alms fi-eely to the poor,
built many mosques, monasteries, and colleges, repaired
the tombs of former sultans and nobles, and founded
hospitals for high and low. With a grim sort of justice
he refused to exempt the Brahmans, "the very keys of
the chamber of idolatry," from the hateful Jidya, or poll-
tax, levied on all other Hindus. At the same time he
remitted the tax on every Hindu who would make pro-
fession of Islam, a stroke of pohcy which gained large
numbers of converts to the dominant creed.* Gifts and
honours further awaited these new soldiers of Mahomet ;
but for those who held fast to the creed of their fore-
fathers he had little mercy to spare. Their temples were
destroyed, their holy books, vessels, and idols publicly
burnt, their leaders not seldom put to death. f If the
Christian princes of that age were equally ruthless towards
the heretic and the heathen, we cannot wonder at the in-
tolerance shown by a believer in a religion which proclaimed
the duty of converting infidels at the sword's point.
His religious training, however, bore fairer fruit than
this. The historians of his day dwell with pride on the
asunder ; these," says Firoz Shah himself, " and many similar tortures
■were practised Through God's mercy these severities and
terrors have been exchanged for tenderness, kindness, and mercy."
* See the " Tankh-i-Firoz Shahi " of Shams-i-Siraj, a contemporary of
Firoz, and that monarch's own brief memoir of his reign, the " Futuhat-i-
Firoz Shahi" — both in vol. iii. of Elliot's "History of India."
+ In spate of his own milder edicts, Firoz Shah had at least one poor
Brahman burnt at the stake, according to the historian Shams-i-Siraj.
72 HISTORY OF INDIA.
many public works begun or carried thi-ough during the
reign of Firoz Toghkk. He is said, we know not how
accurateh', to have built two hundred forts and cities,
forty mosques, thirty coUeges, a hundi-eJ hospitals, a hun-
di'ed and twenty khdiikus, or pubhc inns and caravanserais,
twenty palaces, five tombs, a hundred tanks for bath-
ing, a hundred and fifty bridges, and ten monumental
pillars. To him also was Upper India first indebted for
water-works like those with which Southern India had
long been blest. Besides damming fifty rivers and exca-
vating thirty reservoirs, he carried a canal from Karnal, on
the Upper Jamna, through the thirsty plains round Hansi
and Hisar, to the Kagar river, and thence onward through
once fertUe Bhatiana to the Satlaj.*
After a reign of thirty-six years, the good old king
resigned his throne to his son Nasir-ud-din. But a year
had hardly elapsed before the new king was declared by
his rebeUious nobles unfit to reign ; and Firoz, recalled
from his hard-won privacy, was glad to seek it again after
he had placed the sceptre in the hands of his grandson
Ghyas-ud-din. A few weeks later he himself, at the great
age of ninety, had found the deeper privacy of the grave.
For the next ten years the history of the Toghlak
dynasty is one of continual disorder, unrest, and strife.
In little more than a year one king had been murdered by
a rival brother, who in his turn had given place to his
exiled uncle, Nasu'-ud-din. For months more the strife
between uncle and nephew raged with varying fortune,
before the twice-crowned son of Fu-oz Shah di-ove his
nephew for the last time out of Dehh. His death in
February, 1394, transferred the sceptre to his eldest son
Humayun, who, dying a few weeks later, was succeeded by
his brother Mahmiid.
* Of this great irrigation-work some two hundred miles have since
been reopened by the English Government in India with excellent
results.
THE TOGHLAK, SAIYID, AND. LODI DYNASTIES. 73
This prince's nominal reign of nineteen years began in
trouble and closed in deep gloom. He was a mere boy
when Mozaffar Khan, the son of a converted Rajput, set
up an independent kingdom in Gujarat. His example was
quickly followed by the neighbom-ing governors of Malwa
and Kandesh, whUe his own Wazir founded another king-
dom at Jaunpur on the river Gumti, not far £i-om Banaras.
Dehli itself was torn by incessant broils between the fol-
lowers of rival claimants to the throne.
In the midst of these disorders a remote descendant of
Chingiz Khan swooped down from Samarkhand across the
Indus into the fair plains of Hindustan. At the Satlaj
this new invader, kno\^-a in history as Timiir or Tamer-
lane,* was met by his grandson, fresh from the conquest
of Miiltan. Their march towards Dehh by the way of
Bhatnir, Samana, and Panipat, wjis mai-ked by the usual
atrocities of then- age and race. AU these, however, were
sm-passed, if we may beUeve Timiir's own words, by the
massacre of a hundi-ed thousand prisoners in cold blood
on his near approach to DehU.t Mahmud went forth to
fight his fearful adversary, but his troops were no match
for superior numbers, prowess, and miUtaiy skill. The
beaten monarch fled to Gujarat, and his capital fell into
the hands of a conqueror whose deeds were continually
clashing with his pledged words. His promises of quarter
to the people of Dehli issued in a tremendous carnival of
blood and plunder, which lasted for five days, he himself
feasting all the while in state outside the city, in seeming
helplessness to avert or stay the horrors let loose by his
" savage Tui-ks " within. His own account throws little
light upon the real origin of a disaster which he com-
* A corruption of Timiir Lang, that is, Timur the Lame. Timur
himself appears to have been more of a Turk than a Mongol by birth.
t See his autobiography, the Malfuzati-Timuri, in vol. iii. of Elhofs
"History of India." These "infidels and idolaters" were slain on
grounds of alleged military expediency — a convenient excuse for the
promptings of religious zeal.
74 HISTORY OF INDIA.
placently ascribes to the will of God ; the tone of his nar-
rative betrays smaU regret ; and his avowed attempt to
seize all the Hindu refugees Ln the city provoked the
tumults which his turbulent soldiery were so prompt to
quench in blood.
Be that as it may, however, nearly the whole of Dehli
was given up to plunder, its streets were piled with dead,
and when the new Emperor of India, as Timiir now chose
to call himself, set forth on his homeward march, a host of
captives and an enormous booty of the richest kind fol-
lowed in his train.
Having already, by his own account, slain some " lakhs"*
of infidels, he resumed his holy war at Mirat, whose cap-
ture was attended by a general massacre. After raiding
up the Ganges to Hardwar, at the foot of the Himalayas,
and skirting that mighty range as far as Jammu, north of
Labor, he at length recrossed the Indus to renew elsewhere
the horrors which had dogged his steps from that river to
the Ganges. India at any rate saw him no more.
The exiled King of Dehli returned to his capital, but
found little left him except the name of king over a sorry
remnant of the empire once ruled by Mohammad Toghlak.
For twelve years more he lived as a titled pensioner of one
strong-handed noble after another. With his death in
1412 the house of Toghlak ceased to reign. A fight for
the succession ended fifteen months later in the triumph of
Khizr Khan, a Saiyid or descendant of Mahomet, whom
Timiir had appointed Governor of the Panjab. The
founder of the Saiyid dynasty, he still claimed to govern
as viceroy of the Emperor Timiir. After a prosperous
riiign of seven years, he was succeeded by his son Mo-
barak, whose uneventful reign of fourteen years was cut
short by the assassin's knife.
In the days of his son Mohammad, Dehli was saved by
Eelol Lodi, the Afghan Governor of Multan, from falling
* A lakk is a hundred thousand.
THE TOC.HLAE, SAIYID, AND LODI DYNASTIES. 75
into the hands of the independent King of Malwa. Ere
long, however, Belol himself was laying siege to Dehli,
but in vain. AVithdrawing to his own provinces, be had
not long to wait before Mohammad's death and the help-
less condition of bis son Ala-ud-din, whose sway extended
only a few miles round the capital, again brought him with
fairer prospects to the front. Ala-ud-din retired on a
pension to Budaon, and in 1450 the grandson of the en-
nobled Afghan merchant founded a dynasty which reigned
at DehU for about seventy-six years.
For half that period the throne was occupied by Belol
himself, who is said to have been " for those days a vir-
tuous and mild prince, executing justice to the utmost of
his knowledge." He treated his courtiers like friends,
cared little for display, lived abstemiously, and enjoyed the
company of learned men.* With the mingled courage and
caution of his race, he put down one assailant after an-
other, by fair means or foul, until nearly all the countrv
between the Satlaj and the Ganges down to Banaras had
been re-annexed to the kingdom of Dehli. His greatest
achievement was the reconquest of Jaunpur after a war
which, with varying fortunes and few pauses, raged for
about twenty-six years.
Like so many Eastern sovereigns, his son Sikandar had
to fight for his throne, first with the champions of his
infant nephew, afterwards with two of his brothers. Unlike
most conquerors of his race, however, the new Sultan treated
his fallen rivals with forgiving courtesy, sometimes even
with brotherly atfection. A just and vigorous ruler, he yet
reserved his kindnesses for men of his own faith. Towards
the Hindus he proved a merciless bigot, forbidding their
rites of bathing and pilgi-image, destroying their temples,
and building mosques in their stead. One poor Brahman, a
probable disciple of the reformer Khabir,f was put to death
* See Dow's " History of Hindostaa," vol. ii,
t See Book I. chap. iv.
76 HISTORY OF INDIA.
for having dared to maintain before Mohammadan doctors
the equal claims of aU creeds, if honestly practised, to
acceptance in the sight of God.
After a reign of twenty-eight years, during which Bahar
was added to his father's dominions, Sikandar was suc-
ceeded by his son Ibrahim, whose pride and tyranny drove
his subjects into frequent revolts, quenched by him in seas
of blood. At length one of his tribesmen, Daulat Khan
Lodi, Governor of the Panjab, turned for aid to Kabul,
where Babar, a descendant of Timiir,* after a strange
career of perUs, defeats, and victories, had finally fixed his
throne some twenty years before. He was only fifteen
when he set forth, in 1497, fi'om Firghana, on the upper
com-se of the Jaxartes (the river Syr), to conquer Samar-
khand. A few months later he left that city to fight for
the recovery of his native kingdom, which had risen in
revolt against him. Again, in 1199, he won his way by
stratagem into the capital of Timiir, which had meanwhile
fallen into the hands of a powerful Uzbek chief. Blockaded
by the Uzbeks in Samarkhand, he left that city a second
time to find Firghana also wrested from his gi-asp. For
the next few years Babar was the sport of untoward for-
tune, successful at one moment only to be caught in
sterner straits the next. Baffled at every turn, a wanderer
hunted for his hfe, a prisoner in the hands of his worst
enemies, the brave young chieftain never lost heart. Re-
gaining his freedom he found shelter for a time in Kundiiz,
at the court of Khusrii Shah. Starting thence with an
army chiefly recruited from Elhusru's troops, he marched
on Kabul in 1501, and soon possessed himself of the
country which his uncle had lately ruled.
From that time fortune, if stiU uncertain, smiled upon
him in the main. After extending his dominions around
Kabul, he crossed the Osus in 1511, and for the third
* He was sixth in descent from Timiir and a remote descendant of
Chingiz Khan,
THE TOGHLAK, SAITID, AXD LODI DYNASTIES. ( 7
time conquered Samarkhand. Driven thence in 1514 by
his old enemies the Uzbeks, he at length turned his
thoughts towards India. His first invasion of the Panjab
took place in 1519. Twice again in the next five j-ears he
crossed the Indus; and in 1524 he made his way into
Sirhind, at the invitation of the aforesaid Daulat Khan.
But that shifty or iU-nsed Afghan failed to convince Babar
of his trustworthiness, and the latter again withdi'ew to
Kabul, leaving Ala-ud-din, brother to the Sultan of DehU,*
in charge of the Panjab.
The new governor, after fleeing from the hostility, was
ere long enjoying the aid of Daulat Khan in his march
upon DehM. His defeat by his brother Ibrahim before the
capital at length roused Babar, flushed with victory over
the Uzbek invaders of Balkh, to one more decisive efibrt
for the empire of Hindustan. In the spring of 1526 some
ten thousand lloghal horsemen, with a smaller body of
foot and a few field-guns, t emerged from the hills at
Eupur, and, taking up fresh forces on their way, at length
found themselves on the plain of Panipat, face to face
with Ibrahim's army, reckoned by the chroniclers, more
or less wildly, at a hundred thousand strong. On a battle-
field since famous in Indian histoiT, Babar enti-enched
his small army. His guns and infantry ranged in well-knit
line behind their breastworks, while clouds of watchful
horsemen covered their flanks, Babar, with his son Hu-
mayun, calmly awaited an attack fr-om four times their own
numbers. Impatient of delay, the hosts of Ibrahim thun-
dered down upon the foe. Their strength, however, was
spent in vain upon that bristling banier. Baftled and
disordered, they were suddenly beset on their flanks and
rear by Babar's active horsemen, whose arrows seldom
* Some authorities call him uncle.
t Field-artillery are known to have been employed in India as far
back as 1365 a.d,, when the spoils taken by the Bahmani king of the
Dakhan from the Hindu hosts of Bijayanagar at the battle of Raichor
included 300 gun-carriages.
HISTORI OF INDIA.
missed their mark. Kepeated charges, one of them led by
Ibrahim himself, resulted only in heavier slaughter, in
more confused retreat. Meanwhile Babar, issuing from
his entrenchments, lei his unbroken troops steadily for-
■ward into the heai-t of the hostile ranks. Ibrahim and five
thousand of his best soldiers fell in one spot. Utterly dis-
heartened by their monarch's fall, the Pathan army, says
the historian, "recoiled like surges from a rocky shore,
and the torrent of flight rolled towards the banks of the
I
THE TOGHLAK, SAIYID, AND LODl DYNASTIES. 79
Jamna,"* whither the Moghals kept up the pursuit, untU
Babar, tired of useless bloodshed, gave the word to halt.
Of the routed entmy he himself reckoned f that sixteen
thousand died upon the field, and some thousands more
must have fallen in their subsequent flight. On that fatal
evening of April, 1526, the house of Lodi ceased to reign
over the kingdom it had ^-irtually recalled into being.
* Dow's " Hindoptai^,** vol. ii,
t See Babar's own llemoirs, translated by Mr. Eeskiue.
80
CHAPTEE lY.
THE CONTEMPOEAEY INDIAN DYNASTIES.
At tlie time when Babar steps upon the stage of ludiau
history, it is ■well to pause for a moment and glance round
over the great peninsula which his descendants were to
bring for a season under thcLr sway.
To begin with the cool, weU-watered valley of Kashmir,
nestled in the heai't of the north-western Himalayas.
That country had been ruled by a long succession of
Hindu, Buddhist, and even Tartar princes, when, in the
early part of the fourteenth century, it fell into the hands
of Shah Mir, the Mohammadan vizier of its late rajah, the
last of an ancient Hindu line. The new king, under the
name of Shams-ud-din, governed mildly and well for twenty-
three years ; but one of his successors, about the close of
the same century, proved a cruel persecutor of the pre-
valent Hindu faith. The long reign of Sikandai''s nephew,
Shadi Khan, brought better times to his Hindu subjects.
From the day of his death to the battle of Panipat was a
period mainly of civil commotion and frequent change of
rulers, one of whom, Mohammad, great-grandson of the
wise and good Shadi Khan, was four times deposed during
a nominal reign of about fifty years. On the last of these
occasions, in 1525, he had been set aside in favour of his
grandson by one of Babar's generals ; but the timely de-
parture of the Moghal troops opened the prison doors of
the old king, whose few remaining years were spent in
comparative peace upon his father's throne.
After its conquest by Mohammad Ghori, in 1186, fi-om
THE CONTEMPOKAKY INDIAN DYNASTIES. 81
the Turks of Ghazni, the Panjab, or Land of Five EivsTs,
commonly shared the fortunes of the Dehli kingdom.
Harassed in the thirteenth century by the Moghals, it was
ruled in the fiist years of the fifteenth century by Khizr
Khan, in the name of his master Timur. Hardly had the
founder of the Saiyid dynasty won Dehh, when he began to
lose his hold upon the Panjab, which presently passed into
the hands of Belol Lodi, the destined supplanter of the
Saiyid line. From the middle of the fifteenth century to
the time of Babar's invasion, the Land of the Five Rivers
formed part of the dominions ruled by the house of Lodi.
Miiltan, hke its northern neighbour, passed from one
Mussulman conqueror to another, from the Ghaznevid
princes to the house of Ghor, from thence to the Slave
Kings of Dehli and their successors, down to the end of
the fourteenth century. After Timiir's invasion, the country
seems to have drifted away from its old allegiance, until in
1445 it fell into the guiding hands of the Afghan, Kutab-
ud-din Langa, whose family during the next eighty years
governed it without a master.
From the middle of the eighth century, when the Sumera
Rajputs drove out the Ai-ab invader, Sindh throve under a
native Hindu dynasty for nearly five hundred years.
Early in the thirteenth century the Sumera princes were
ousted by a Mussulman named Nasir-ud-din. After his
death Sindh became the prize of another Rajput dynasty,
that of the Jains, who paid some kind of tribute to the
Sultan of Dehli, and towards the end of the fourteenth
century embraced the creed of their Lord Paramount. A
succession of Jain princes with Mohammadan names go-
verned the counti-y until, in 1520, the dynasty was dis-
placed by that of the Arghuns from Khorasan, who
presently became masters of Miiltan also.
The old Hindu province of Gujarat or Saurashtra, ruled
by Ballahi princes for two centuries, passed in 524 under
the sway of a Chaura dynasty, which flourished for about
G
82 HISTORY OF INDIA.
four hundred years, giving place in its tui'n to the Salonka
or Chalukya line of Rajput princes, led ofi' by Muh-aj, the
warlike son-in-law of the last Ballabi king. Under these
princes, who came from the Dakhan, the land of Krishna
prospered fairly on the whole for two centuries, suffering
less than its neighbours from Mohammadan im-oads, and
bearing on its surface many noble monuments of its rulers'
piety, splendour, and care for the common good. It still
abounds in temples built by Jain architects, and the great
reservoir of Kui'an Sagar — the Sea of Kuran — constructed
in the eleventh century, was effaced by a flood so late as
1814.*
In 1228, this dynasty was replaced by a line of Waghila
chiefs, who ruled the country during the rest of that cen-
tuiy, until it passed under the sway of Ala-ud-din Khilji,
then Sultan of Dehli. A hundred years later, about 1391,
a new kingdom was founded in Gujarat by the son of a
Rajput convert to Islam. Sent thither from Dehli to dis-
place the mild-hearted governor Farat Khan, whose kind-
ness to the Hindus had roused the rancour of his own
countrymen, Mozaflfar Khan set up as king of the province
entrusted to him as viceroy, and mai-ked his reign by fierce
persecutions of the people who still clung to his ancestral
faith. His gi-andson, Ahmad Shah, the builder of Ahmad-
abiid, was equally renowned for his wars, his splendid
buildings, and his fierce zeal against idolaters. The
peninsula of Katiawar, hitherto ruled in practice by its own
Hindu chiefs, was now brought more closely under the
Mussulman yoke. One of his successors, Mahmiid Shah,
turned his arms with success against almost eveiy neigh-
bour, and raised his kingdom to its highest pitch of
greatness by land and sea. An embassy from Dehli bore
witness to his power ; and his fleets, in concert with those
* The Jain temples of Mount Abu were built by Bhfm D^o about
1030, and his successor Kuran built those at Gimar, as well as the
reservoir that bore his name.
THE CO.VTEMPORAKT INDIAN DYNASTIES. 83
of the Maniluk Sultan of Egypt, inflicted a signal check
upon the Portuguese invaders of Western India. In the
reign of llahmud's descendant, Bahadur Shah, the kings
of Kandesh, Berar, and Ahmadnagar paid formal homage
to the king of Gujarat, Tvhile Malwa, after repeated strug-
gles, became a part of his dominions.
The Mussulman kingdom of Malwa had thus lasted
about a hundred and thirty years. That province, lying
between Gujarat and Bundalkhand, Tvith the Narbadha for
its southern boundary, had been governed by a long succes-
sion of Hindu princes, including the far-famed Vikram-
aditya, and, some centuries later, the Rajah Bhoj, before it
passed under the Mohammadan yoke in the beginning of
the fom-teenth century. For nearly a hnndi-ed years its
rulers were viceroys of the kings of Delhi. At last, in
1401, Dilawar Khan of Ghor, a Pathan noble whom
Firoz Toghlak had made Governor of ilalwa, threw off the
last shi'ed of allegiance to Dehh and founded a kingdom
whose sovereigns were always fighting -n-ith this neighbour
or with that. One of them, Mahmiid Khilji, besieged
Dehli itself in the days of Saivid Mohammad, but was
driven off, as we saw, by the timely prowess of Beldl Lodi.*
Another Mahmiid fled to Gujarat from the bondage pre-
pared for him by his aggressive Hindu minister, Medni
Rai. Restored to his throne by the help of King Mozaffar,
be was taken prisoner by the troops of Rajah Sanga of
Chitor, in a fruitless effort to drive Medni Rai out of
Chanderi. The chivalrous Rajput forthwith set him free,
a kindness which Mahmiid afterwards requited by wantonly
attacking his son and successor. Rattan Singh. A fitting
Nemesis however dogged his steps, in the shape of
Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, who hstened the more readily
to the Hindu's prayer for help, in that he himself had
cause to complain of Mahmiid's treachery to the son of his
old ally. Mandu, the hill-crowning capital of Malwa, was
* Page 74,
g2
84 HISTORY OF INDIA.
stoiined by the soldiers of Gujarat, MahiuuJ himself taken
prisoner, and his kingdom annexed to that of Bahadur
Shah.
South of Malwa and south-east of Gujarat, lay the little
Mohammadan kingdom of Kandesh, in those days a rich,
smiling valley, watered by the Tapti and a host of smaller
streams, which successive princes, Hindu or Mohammadan,
applied to the enrichment of the surrounding fields. Ruled
for long centuries from Malwa or Deogarh, it fell under
the sway of its first Mohammadan governor in the reign of
Firoz Toghlak. In 1399, Malik Rajah was succeeded by
his son, Nasir Khan, who first claimed the rank and
honours of an independent king. His reign was marked
by the capture of the strong hill-fortress of Asi'rgarh, one
of the last remaining fastnesses of a Hindu dynasty, sprung
from an old race of Shepherd Kings. The infernal
treachery which issued in the seizure of a stronghold
ruled by a friendly Hindu prince, and in the murder of
the prince himself with all his family, was hailed by pious
Moslems as a glorious triumph over the infidel. This
noble deed was commemorated by the founding of Bur-
hanpur, a city which one of Nasir's successors, Adil
Khan, enriched with buildings and waterworks of sur-
passing beauty or magnificent design.* Under its Mo-
hammadan kings Kandesh continued on the whole to
prosper, until in the last days of the sixteenth century it
passed under the wide sway of Akbar himself.
After his revolt from Mohammad Toghlak in 1338,
Fakr-ud-din and his successors reigned for more than two
centuries over Bengal. Of the events of that period not
much is to be learned from the native chroniclers — a rare
defect in the annals of any Mohammadan province. Fre-
quent changes of dynasty happened of course in the usual
violent way. One of the successful usurpers was Rajah
* Burh^npiir is still noted for the manufacture of rich and beautiful
brocades, muslins, and other tissues.
THE CONTEMPORARY INDIAN DYNASTIES. bi)
Krtns, a Hindu Zamindar, whose son became a Moham-
madan, under the title of Jalal-ud-din. Several of the
kings who reigned m the fifteenth century were Abyssinian
slaves or chiefs. At the time of Babar's advent, their rule
had been replaced and their power utterly broken by the
bouse of Ala-ud-din, whose sceptre was ere long to pass
into the hands of Humayun's conqueror, the redoubtable
Afghan Shir Shah.
Di'^ided by the Great Desert from Sindh and Miiltan,
and spreading eastward nearly to the Jamna, rolls the
broad sea of sandy rock-crested plain once called Rajas-
than, "the land of kings," but now generally known as
Eiijputana, " the country of the Rajputs." Here reigned
from century to century, hither from time to time fled
with thousands of their followers and clansmen from
neighbouring countries the high-souled, pure-blooded de-
scendants of ancient Aiyan lords. Century after century,
from the days of the Arab Kasim to those of the Moghal
B;ibar, these proud warrior chiefs defied the attacks or dis-
owned in all but name the yoke of successive invaders.
Some pai'ts of the country were never conquered at all by
the Pathan kings of Dehli. Others fluctuated between
uneasy acquiescence and oft-recurring revolt. Foremost
in bold, nor often vain resistance, were the Rajput princes
of Mewar, whose capital, Chitor, crowned the rugged hills
that guarded their eastern frontier. At the end of the
twelfth century, the Rahtdr clan of Rajputs left their early
seats in Kanauj to wander westward across the Aravalli
hills, and found a new kingdom in Marwar.*
Under the feudal system which bound chiefs and fol-
lowers together by strong ties of blood and fellowship,
the^e Rajput races succeeded for the most part in main-
taining a steady front against all assailants. A nation of
born soldiers, who held their lands by a kind of joint
mihtary tenure, they mustered readily at the call of their
* See page 51.
86
HISTORY OF INDIA.
hereditary chiefs, inflaming their courage with songs and
tales commemorative of past glories, and betraj'Lng aUke
in victory and defeat the ancestral \ii-tues of a proud,
'Ml\i!ii^f^M^
chivabous, highbred, patriotic race;* virtues not wholly
lost in theu- enfeebled, opium-eating childi-en of the pre-
sent day.
* " With them," says Elphinstone (p. 76), " the founder of a state,
after reserving a demesne for himself, divided the rest of the country
among his relations, according to the Hindu laws of partition. The
chief to whom each share was assigned owed mihtary service and
general obedience to the prince, but exercised unlimited authority
within his own lands. He in his turn divided his lands on similar
terms among his relations, and a chain of vassal-chiefs was thus estab-
lished, to whom the ci\-il government as well as the militaiy force of
the country was committed."
THE COXTEJIPOK.VRT IXDIAN DTXASTIES. O t
One of the foremost Rajput princes of the days before
Babar, was the Rana Sanga of Chitor, who in the early
years of the sixteenth century maintained a successful
warfare against Gujarat, and defeated in battle Mahmud,
the Mohammadan king of Malwa. How courteously he
treated his royal prisoner, and how meanly the courtesy
was afteiTvards requited, we have already seen.'"
After the death of Hasan Gangu, founder of the Bahmani
kiugdam in the Dakhan, his successors waged continual
wai-s with the Hindu Rajahs of Telingana on the east, and
of Bijayanagar on the south of their dominions. In 1421,
Ahmad Shah dispossessed the former of their chief city
Wai-angul, and made a savage inroad into Bijayanagar, part
of which was added to his own broad realms. His son
Ala-ud-din partially subdued the Kankan, lying between
his western frontier and the sea, and removed his capital
fi'om Kulbarga to the heights where Bidar stiU towers in
ruined majesty above the plain. In the reign of his gi'and-
son, Nizam Shah, the Dakhan, overrun by the King of
Malwa, was saved from imminent ruin by the timely inter-
ference of the King of Gujarat. In 1-177, Kizam's son
Mohammad exacted ti-ibute from the Rajah of Orissa, and
carried his arms down the eastern coast as far- as Kanchi,
the modem Conjeveram. On the western coast he com-
pleted the subjection of the Kankan, part of which had for
about forty years defied the arms of successive Bahmani
kings.
The real conqueror of the Kankan, Mahmud Gawan, the
king's chief minister, one of the noblest men of that or any
age, now fell a blameless victim to the plots of rivals who
envied him his well-earned honours and commanding in-
fluence with the king. Too late Mohammad learned the
innocence of the minister he had doomed to a hasty death.
From that time the glory of the Bahmani kingdom began
to fade away. His own death in the following yeai' paved
* Page 83.
88 HISTORY OF INDIA.
the way for the dismemberment of the Dakhan under his
child-heir. One large slice of his kingdom, from the sea
to the Bima and Kistna rivers, passed under the rule of
Yusuf Adil Shah, who fixed his capital at Bijapiir. The
bought slave and faithful follower of Mahmiid Gawan, he
governed his new kingdom ably for twenty-one years,
boating olf assailants from every quarter, and attaching
his Maratha subjects to his rule by raising many of them
to high civU and military posts. One of his successors,
Ibrahim, adopted the Maratha language, instead of Persian,
for the public accounts. The d^asty, which survived the
reign of Babar and lasted into that of Aurangzib, was in-
volved in frequent wars, among others with the Portuguese,
who steadily encroached upon its seaward possessions.
To the north of Bijapiir grew up the rival state of
Ahmadnagar, founded by Nizam Shah, who gave his
original name of Ahmad to the city he built for his capital.
He also appears to have favoured his Maratha subjects ;
and his successor, Burhan Shah, for the first time recorded
in Mohammadan history, raised a Brahman to the post of
Peshwa, or prime minister. In spite of the Brahman's
abilities, his master was compelled in 1530 to do homage
to the King of Gujarat ; but the dynasty struggled on with
varying fortune to its final overthrow by the troops of the
Emperor Shah Jahan.
Out of the eastern provinces of the Bahmani kingdom,
Imad Shah, a converted Hindu, who had risen high in the
service of Mahmiid Gawan, carved for himself the kingdom
of Berar, which extended from the Injiidri hiUs to the
Godavari, with the highland city of GawUgarh for its
capital After a somewhat stormy existence of nearly
ninety years, Berar was finally absorbed by its old rival
Ahmadnagar.
A longer life, even to the days of Aurangzib, awaited
the kingdom of Golkonda, founded in 1512 by Kutab
Shah, a Turk whom Mahmud Gawan had appointed
THE CONTEMPORARY INDIAN DYNASTIES. 89
governor of the country between the Godavari and the
Kistna. During a reign of thirty-one years he made fresh
conquests from the Rajahs of Tehngana and Bijayanagar.
His successors enlarged then- dominions at the expense of
their Hindu neighbours in Orissa and the Carnatic, and
one of them in 1589 founded the city of Haidarabad,
which became in after years the splendid capital of the
Nizam's dominions.* Meanwhile, the diminished sway of
the old Bahmani kings was still represented by the dynasty
of Barid Shah, which ruled at Bidar do^Ti to the middle of
the seventeenth century.
One of the countries with which these Mussulman
princes waged frequent war was Orissa, the Holy Land of
successive Hindu creeds, and the seat for a centiu-y and
a half of a powerful Yavan dynasty, founded apparently by
Greek invaders from the regions watered by the Ganges.
In this land of forest-covered hiUs and alluvial plains,
stretching southwards fi-om Midnapur to Ganjam, with the
broad Mahanadi winding through it to the Bay of Bengal,
a race of Sanskrit-speaking Arj'ans seems to have settled
some centuries before the reign of King Asoka, pushing the
aboriginal dwellers westward into the hills. Thither, from
about the fifth century b.c, a succession of Yavan immi-
grants from the north brought with them the religion of
Buddha, and the manners of a kindred but separate Aryan
race, whom modem scholarship would identify with the
Ionian Greeks. The worship of the sun, at any rate,
came in time to be supplanted by that of Buddha, and the
prevalence of the new faith for centuries afterwards is
clearly attested by the rock-hewn caves, shrines, sculptures,
and inscriptions, which cover tlie country with curious
suggestions of Greek art applied to Buddhist purposes.!
* It was called at first Bhagnagar, the name it still bears among the
Hindus. His son Haidar changed the name to Haidarabad.
t See Hunter's "Orissa," vol. i. Mr. Hunter's attempt to prove
the identity of the Tavanas in Orissa with the lonians of Greek history
and the Greek settlers in Kabul and Lahor is well worth considering.
90 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Certain it is, however, that a Yavan dynasty, entering
Orissa from the sea, ahout 323 a.d., was expelled a hun-
dred and fifty years later by a Hindu prince of the Kesari
line, whose advent paved the way for the gi-adual displace-
ment of Buddhist by Brahmanic forms of worship. New
temples everywhere arose in honour of Siva, whose worship
in its tm-n succumbed in many places to the milder rites of
the more genial Vishnu, best known to the myriads who
yearly flock from all India to the priestly paradise of
Piiri under his later name of Jagannath, the Lord of
Heaven.
The Kesari dynasty, which ruled Orissa for about sis
hundred and fifty years, was succeeded in its turn by the
house of Ganga Vansa, in whose days the worship of
Vishnu won its way into the head-quarters of the Sivaite
priesthood at Jajpur on the Baitarani. In the thirteenth
century Hindu ai-chitectm-e reached its zenith, and the
Orissa kingdom extended almost to the Godavari. In the
middle of that century the people of Orissa hurled back a
Pathan invasion from Bengal, and ten years later another
inroad was followed by a like defeat. In the middle of the
fifteenth century the Rajah of Orissa joined his Hindu
neighbours in a league against the Mussulman invaders of
Southern India, but some thirty years later he himself was
paying tribute to a Mohammadan king. In the beginning
of the sixteenth century the armies of Orissa were aiding a
Mussulman ally against the great Hindu monarch of the
South, Krishna Raya : but in vain. In 1568, the Orissa
prince, no longer of the Ganga Vansa line, beat back a
formidable inroad from Bengal ; but this last flickering
effort of native patriotism delaj'ed for a few years only his
country's doom. In 1567 the Afghan King of Bengal
marched through Orissa at the head of an army which
nothing could withstand, and for some unquiet years the
country remained in the hands of its new masters. At
last, when Bengal itself had acknowledged the superior
THE CONTEIIPORAEY INDIAN DYNASTIES. 91
might of Akbai-, Orissa also was finally conquered by his
great Hindu general, Todar Mall.
Kiisbna Eaya, the Arthur of Southern India, mounted
the throne of Bijayanagar in the fii'st yeai-s of the sixteenth
centm-y. Ever since 1347, if not much earlier, the Hindu
kingdom of Bijayanagar had played a leading part in the
history of Soutbem India. From the usual want, however,
of native annalists, our knowledge of the country comes to
us in gUmpses ofl'ered by the historians of the neighbom-ing
Mohammadan states. The kings of the country, whose
seaward fi-ontier extended from Goa to Calicut, waged
frequent wars with the Bahmani princes, and one of them,
in 1193, suffered a heavy defeat fi-om the ruler of Bijapur.
The glory and gi-eatness of the kingdom culminated with
Krishna Kaya, whose sway extended over nearly all
Southern India south of the Kistna, and whose arms were
often successful against his Mohammadan neighbours.
So gi-eat at last grew the power of Bijayanagar, that the
kings of the four Mohammadan states in the Dakhan
leagued together in 1565 against Ramraj, successor to
Krishna Raya. Their combined forces crossed the
Kistna, and encountered the hosts of Kiimraj and his
two brothers near Talikdt. The Hindu horse charged
boldly down upon the foe, with a fury which nothing could
check until they came within reach of the guns brought
forward by the King of Ahmadnagar. Against these
Ramraj hurled the pick of his infantry, who fell in heaps
under their deadly haU. A timely charge of Mussulman
cavalry turned the disorder into hopeless rout. The brave
old king himself was taken prisoner and mercilessly be-
headed ; one of his brothers died fighting ; the routed
troops were followed up with fearful slaughter ; and imtold
treasures fell into the victors' hands. Bijayanagar was
presently sacked and well-nigh destroyed ; and the last
gi-eat Hindu kingdom in Southern India thenceforth ceased
to be.
92
CHAPTER V.
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA.
About thirty years before Babar's victoiy at Panipat, one
of the smaller Christian states in Europe began to take an
ambitious part in the affairs of India. As early as 1415,
the success of the Venetians and Genoese in securing a
monopoly of the carrying trade between Europe and India
had fired Prince Henry of Portugal with the hope of divert-
ing some part of a trade so enviable to his own shores. It
was not, however, tiU the reign of John II. that Bartho-
lemewDiaz fulfilled Prince Henry's previsions by rounding,
in 1486, the Cape of Storms, which was afterwards to
bear the more cheering title of the Cape of Good Hope.
Eleven years later, King John's successor, Emmanuel,
despatched a fleet M-hich, under the famous Vasco da
Gama, rounded the Cape, discovered Natal, and in May of
the following year cast anchor near the city of Calicut on
the Malabar coast. Courteously entertained by the Zamo-
rin, the Hindu ruler of the province. Da Gama failed
wholly to baffle the intrigues of the Moorish traders from
Egypt and Arabia, who saw in these western strangers
their likely rivals and possible supplanters. He sailed
homewards in August, his three ships followed for some
way in vain by a fleet of forty vessels sent out to capture
them.
A fleet of thirteen ships and 1,200 men under Pedro
Cabral appeared before Calicut in the autumn of 1500,
less one ship lost with all its crew on the voyage thither.
The strangers were allowed to establish a factory, which
THE PORTUGUESE IX INDIA. 93
the wrathful Mohammadans carried by storm. This out-
rage the Portuguese commander requited by setting ten
Moorish ships on fire after their cargoes had been emptied
into his own vessels, and cannonading the city itself. At
Cochin, where he was kindly received, Cabral resumed the
lading of his fleet, and took in some fui-ther cargo at
Kananor.
Soon after his depai-ture homewards, the Zamorin of
Calicut sent a powerful fleet to intercept the few ships
which, under Juan de Xueva, were looking after Portu-
guese interests at Cochin and Kananor. Careless of the
odds against him, the bold Portuguese made ready for
action, and used his guns to such purpose that the assail-
ants speedily sheered ofl'.
In 1502 a much larger fleet than Cabral's, carrying
several hundred soldiers on board, saUed out of the Tagus
under Vasco da Gama, who was empowered to take full
revenge for the previous insults offered to the Portuguese
flag-
Improving upon orders not perhaps too mild, the fiery
Christian harried the Mussulmans wherever he met them,
capturing a shipload of Mecca-bound pilgiims, and doom-
ing hundreds of helpless prisoners to a cruel death in the
flames of their own vessels. The Zamorin of Calicut
being backward in making amends for the treatment of
Cabral, the ruthless admiral hanged some fifty natives
taken out of fishing-boats in the harbom-, destroyed great
part of the town by bombardment, and set sail thence for
Cochin, where his countrymen carried on a fair trade
under the protection of its friendly Piajah.
In lc03 Da Gama returned to Europe. Meanwhile
another fleet from Portugal, under Alfonso Albuquerque
and his two brothers, arrived at Cochin in time to frustrate
the Zamorin's designs against his vassal, the Rajah of that
place, who had dared to encourage the pushing strangers
from the west. Once more defeated and compelled to sue
94
HISTOET OF INDIA.
for peace, the Zamorin availed himself of Albuquerque's
departure to renew bis attack upon Cocbin, witb a larger
fleet tban ever, and an army reinforced by the troops of
bis lord paramount, the Kajah of Bijayanagar. In a series
of hard-fought battles against fearful odds, the brave Pa-
checo beat back the invader with heavy loss ; and a fresh
fleet from Portugal under Soarez followed up his comi-ade's
successes by the bombardment of CaHcut, and the capture
of all the Zamorin's vessels in fair fight.
Four years later, in 1507, a grand attack upon the rising
Portuguese power in the Indian seas was concerted between
the Tenetians, the Sultan of Egypt, the Zamorin, and the
Mussulman king of Gujarat. Don Francis Almeida, the
fii-st Portuguese Viceroy in India, had to meet this new
danger as be best could. The allied fleets bore down
upon that of Portugal, commanded by Lorenzo, the vice-
roy's son. A sharp engagement near Chaul, on the
Kankan coast, issued in the defeat of the Portuguese
and the sinking of their flagship with nearly all on
board, including Lorenzo himself. For this disaster
Almeida soon took his revenge. The port of Dabal
destroyed by the guns of his fleet, ho sailed northwards
after the retiiing foe, coming up with them oft' Diu,
at the outer entrance to the Gulf of Cambay. The alhed
admii-als at once accepted the challenge, and after a hard
fight, in which all the best of the Mohammadan ships were
burnt or captured, the remainder spread all sail in timely
escape.
Almeida was erelong displaced as viceroy by Albu-
querque, who raised the Portuguese power in the Indian
seas to its greatest height, and won for it a noble and
commanding seat by his final capture of Goa from the King
of Bijapur. His conquests ranged from Ormuz in the Per-
sian Gulf to Malacca in the Malay Peninsula. Both towns
were strongly fortified, and the whole sea-board of Western
India became dotted with Portuguese factories. Baflied
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA. 95
in Ms attempts on Aden and Calicut, he yet forced the
Zamorin to sue for peace, crushed the Mohammadan trade
in the Indian seas, and diverted the bulk of India's export
trade with the West from the Adriatic to the Tagus. In
spite, however, of these splendid achievements, Albu-
querque fell into disgrace at Lisbon, and the news of his '
supersession by his foe Soarez broke his heart in the last
days of 1515. With his d3Tng breath the great viceroy,
whose successes had been marred by no acts of wanton
cruelty, bequeathed his son and a small estate to his sove-
reign's care, and appealed to his Indian career as the
eloquent witness to his real deserts.*
Sis years after his death, Diego Lopez de Siquera, suc-
cessor to Soarez, saUed against Diu with forty ships and
three or four thousand men. But the bold front shown
by the Gnjarati admiral cooled his corn-age, and not with-
out heavy loss did his vessels make good their retreat to
Chaul. In the following year Goa itself was besieged to
no pm-pose by the King of Bijapiir. In 1527 the fleets of
Gujarat were nearly destroyed in an unsuccessful attack on
the Portuguese station of Chaul. Four years later Antonio
di Silveira, with 400 ships and 22,000 men, made one
more effort to capture Diu ; but the genius and the guns
of Eumi Khan, chief engineer to the King of Gujarat,
drove him out of the bay.
In spite of their fresh reptdse, the Portuguese erelong
gained a firm foothold on the long-coveted port, by means
of a well-timed alliance with Bahadur Shah, the enter-
prising ruler of Gujarat. That monarch's fears, however,
* Groa, the once splendid capital of the Portngnese in India, but now
fallen into slow decay, lies in an island about twenty-four miles round.
Its harbour, one of the noblest in India, is formed by an arm of the
sea into which flows a small river. The old city etui contaius a number
of fine churches, monasteries, and other buildings, the faded relics of
former greatness. The Goa territory is about forty miles long by
twenty broad, with a population of about 300,000, most of whom are
Koman Catholics under a Portuguese archbishop.
96 HISTORY OF INDIA.
were soon roused by the encroaching policy of his new
friends, and his death in a chance affray between his
attendants and the Portuguese gave rise to charges, not
quite perhaps unfounded, of preconcerted treachery on
both sides.*
Meanwhile a great fleet from Egypt, equipped by orders
from Constantinople, and commanded by a Turkish
admiral, bore down in September, 1537, for the Gulf of
Cambay, with intent to drive the Portuguese out of Gu-
jarat. But the brave Silveira, with only 600 men, prepared
to defend to the last the new factory, which he had already
turned into a little fortress. After eight months of immi-
nent peril, of sufferings more and more enhanced by famine
and disease,! the wasted garrison were gladdened by the
approach of a fleet which the Viceroy of Goa had brought
in the nick of time to their help. Sallying forth from their
battered works, they drove before them the disheartened
besiegers, and Diu was saved.
The history of the Portuguese during that century may
as well be finished here. Two more futile attacks on Diu
by Mahmiid Shah of Gujarat, in 1545 and 1548, were
followed by about twenty years of chequered warfare and
much intrigue on land, and of supreme dominion by sea.
No ship without a Portuguese passport could sail with per-
fect safety over Indian waters. In many articles of trade
the Portuguese monopoly was complete ; and of what trade
was still open to ships of other countries, the Portuguese
captains secured the lion's share by enforcing the right to
load their own vessels first. If the frequent cruelty and
arrogance of Portuguese commanders earned them many
foes, their alliance was often courted by neighbours who
had learned to dread their prowess in the field, or to take
due measure of the strength that lay unseen behind the
* See Elphinatone's "India," p. 678 (4th Edition),
f The ladies of the garrison bore no trifling part in the defence, and
their heroic example went far to save the place.
I
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA. 97
few ships and soldiers that guarded their factories. Whe-
ther from policy or national instinct, the Portuguese never
pushed their way far from the sea-coast, confiniDg them-
selves even at Goa to a narrow strip of land between the
sea and the Western Ghats. So long as their fleets ruled
the ocean, nothing more was needed for the maintenance
of their power. But the time was soon to come when
stronger rivals pushed them from their watery throne,
and their hold on India dwindled to a ruinous city, two
small decaying seaports, Diu and Daman, and about 1,500
square miles of ground.
In 1570, however, the glory of Goa and the religious
bigotry of its priesthood were at their height, when a great
league was formed against it by the princes of Bijapur,
Ahmadnagar, and Calicut. For ten months an immense
army of horse and foot with 350 guns besieged in vain a
city held out by its governor, Don Louis, with about 700
soldiers, aided by 1,300 monks and anned slaves. Wearied
at last of a siege in which he lost 12,000 men alone, be-
sides thousands of horses and cattle, and hundi-eds of
elephants, the King of Bijapur withdrew his troops from
what seemed a hopeless enterprise. A hke repulse was all
that Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar obtained fi'om his twice-
attempted attack upon Chaul ; and Chale near Calicut was
defended with equal success against the Zamorin. For
the rest of the sixteenth century the Portuguese power in
India remained unshaken.
But early in the nest century new rivals appeared upon
the scene. In 1604 the Dutch, who had but lately won
their independence of Spain, wi-ested Amboyna from the
Portuguese, and even made an attempt upon Malacca.
In 1612 a small English fleet defeated with heavy loss the
Portuguese squadron which strove to bar its way into the
harbour of Surat. Another English fleet drove the Portu-
guese, in 1622, from their flourishing settlement in the
isle of Ormuz. Between the advances of two such rivals
s
98 HISTORY OF INDIA.
the Portuguese power in the Indian seas gradually de-
clined, and the trade monopoly which the countrymen of
Albuquerque had held for a century passed into other and
stronger hands.
BOOK III.
THE MOGHAL DYNASTY OF BABAR.
CHAPTER I.
bIbae and humIyun — 1526-1556.
With the fall of Ibrahim, and the rout of his axmy at
Panipat, dates the beginning of a new empire in Hindu-
stan. The two great cities of Dehh and Agra speedily
acknowledged their new master. But the task before
Babar was stUl formidable. The new Emperor of India
had yet to make his way through the broad regions lying
to the south, east, and south-west of his new capital. His
soldiers and his nobles were equally unwilling to go fur-
ther. Cheered at length by his brave words, or shamed
by his earnest reproaches, most of them resolved to follow
his standard, and in the course of a few months the old
Mussulman provinces in the valley of the Ganges had
nearly all submitted to his rule.
Westward of the Jamua, however, a mighty force was
gathering against him, under the powerful Rana Sanga,
the Rajput sovereign of Mewar. Followed by all the
chivalry of Marwar and Jaipiir, and strengthened by the
troops of Mahmud, a prince of the dispossessed house of
Lodi, the great Rajah marched towards DehH. At Sikri,-
* Since called Fathipur Sikri.
H 2
100 HISTORY OF INDIA.
not far from Agra, he assailed and defeated the van of the
Moghal army. Had he only dared to order a general
advance, the future of India might have been very diffe-
rent, for a panic had seized upon the bravest of Babar's
troops. But the right moment was lost. Babar's stirring
remonstrances touched the hearts of his officers. Dropping
a few brave words here and there as he galloped along the
line he had formed in order of battle, the light-hearted
Moghal led his troops against the foe. The Eajputs
fought with their usual courage, but nothing could with-
stand the charge of Babar's veterans. Kana Sanga's
bloody defeat left Kajputana at the victor's mercy, and
cleared the way for fresh victories over Mahmiid Lodi,
who at length, with the shattered remnants of his army,
retired beyond the Son.
Next year Babar attacked and stormed Chanderi, the
capital of a small Rajput kingdom carved by Medni Rai
out of the lands he had wrested from the kings of Malwa.
Once more Rajput heroism, hopeless of victory, preferred
speedy death to the tender mercies of Mohammadan rule.
As the Moghal troops were storming the city, the garrison
slew all their women, and then rushed upon the foe to die.
Chanderi captured, the fiery Moghal darted across the
Ganges into Audh, drove the Afghans before him in all
directions, and ere long added Bahar also to his sway.
The Sultan of Bengal was glad to sue for peace on terms
which included the surrender of North Bahar.
By this time Babar's health was fast breaking under the
heavy strain of so many and prolonged exertions. His
end was probably hastened by anxiety for his beloved son,
Humayun, who now lay dangerously ill at Agra. With
pardonable superstition, the war-worn fiither, walking thrice
round his son's bed, solemnly besought Heaven to spare
Humayun, and take himself instead. " I have borne it
away ! I have home it away ! '* were the joyful words that
presently escaped him. From that moment, say the his-
I
BABAE AND HUIIAYUN. 101
torians, the son began to recover, and the father to decline.
Be that as it may, it was Babar's own conviction that he
would shortly die ; and it is certain that he met his end
as cheerfully as he had battled through the darkest trials
of his stormy life. After a few last words of wise and
loving counsel to his sons and ministers, he died at Agra,
in December, 1530, at the age of forty-nine.
The best picture of the great Moghal is that which he
himself has drawn for us in his own dehghtful memoirs,
replete with every charm of a frank, genial, yet manly
nature, and a weU-stored, inquiring mind. At once a poet,
scholar, and musician, he had all the qualities which those
words imply, mixed up with the tougher tissues that go to
the making of the adventurous soldier and the hard-headed
statesman. In a straightforward, hvely, picturesque style,
perfectly natural, yet never coarse nor inflated, he tells or
suggests to us everything he did, saw, or suffered ; how
he wept for his boyish playfellow ; how fond an interest
he took in his mother and near kindred ; how keen were
his sympathies alike with the pleasures and the misfortunes
of his fi-iends ; how lightly he bore his own reverses, riding
a race with the only two friends who followed him, a house-
less, half-starved wanderer, on his dreary journey from
Samarkhand. With equal ease and hghtness of touch, he
describes the hardships he underwent, the bursts of revelry
in which he and his companions not seldom indulged ; the
scenery, climate, people, and products of the countries he
passed through ; the sayings and doings of his friends ;
his own successes, failures, and weaknesses ; the sense of
loneliness that came over him as he ate a musk-melon
brought from Kabul. Violent sometimes, and cruel when
the fit was on him, he endeared himself to his friends and
followers by many kindly actions, and treated his enemies
on the whole with wonderful forbearance. His high courage
never failed him, and his buoyant spuit nothing seemed to
puU down. Fond of wine, and given to hard drinking, he
102 HISTOBY OF INDIA.
eschewed both in his latter years. No small part of his
leisure hours was bestowed on public business, and his
active habits were equally conspicuous in the camp, the
council-room, and the hunting-field. In his last journey
of 160 miles from Kalpi to Agra, in spite of failing health,
he rode the distance in two days, and swam twice across
the Ganges. Not content with the regular business of the
state, his mind was always full of schemes for the public
welfare, from the building of reservoirs and aqueducts to
the introduction of new trade-products from abroad. No
wonder that the memory of a king so lovable and so richly
endowed should be cherished by the Mohammadans of
India beyond that of all other princes, save Akbar, of the
same gi-eat line.
Humayun, heir to his father's Indian throne, seems to
have inherited something of his father's chequered for-
tunes. Much against his own will, he weakened his empire
by handing Kabul and the Panjab over to his brother,
Kamran. To another of his brethren he assigned the
province of Sambal or Rohilkhand, while a third was ap-
pointed Governor of Mewat, La Rajputana. The first two
years of. his reign were employed in quelling revolts in
Bundalkhand, Jaunpiir, and Bahar. Then began a quarrel
with Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, who had given shelter to
Humayun's brother-in-law, and furnished the uncle of the
last Pathan king of Dehli with the means of waging war
against the new dynasty. Defeated at Mandisor, and
driven from place to place, the once powerful king of
Gujarat foimd shelter at Diu, in the farthest comer of his
realm.
Humayun's success was crowned by his daring capture
of Champaner, seated on a lofty rock, up whose steep side
he and 300 of his chosen followers clomb with the help of
steel spikes. Leaving his brother, Mirza Askai-i, in charge
of his new conquests, Humayun marched back to Agra, in
order to deal with a new rebellion got up by Shir Khan,
EABAK AND HUMAYUN. 103
an Afghan noble, who had ah-eady made himself master of
Bahar, and begun the conquest of Bengal. The strong
fort of Chunar on the Ganges taken after a stout defence,
the Moghal monarch pushed on to Gaur, the capital of
Bengal. Here, however, his troops were sadly thinned by
sickness, consequent on the heavy rains and floods of an
Indian monsoon.* In spite of the weather, his Afghan
foe made his way up to Jaunpur, and threatened to cut
off Humayun's retreat. Leaving garrisons in his new
conquests, Humayun at length began his homeward
march.
Once more, however. Shir Khan's skilful strategy
turned his resources to their best account. After defeat-
ing a strong Moghal force at Monghir, he suddenly fell
about daybreak on Humayun's army encamped near
Baxar, on the road to Banaras, routed it with heavy
slaughter, and drove its leader, with the shattered remnant
of his host, in wild flight across the Ganges. Humayun
himself barely escaped drowning, his empress was taken
prisoner, and the bulk of his best troops perished by the
sword or in the river.
A like disaster befell him in the following year not far
from Kanauj, where with fresh troops recruited from
Kabul and Labor he was again surprised by the same
bold and crafty assailant. From this last crushing blow it
took him many years to recover. Under the name of
Shir Shah the victorious Afghan seated himself on the
throne of Dehli, which he and his successors held for
about sixteen years. While Humayun, with a few faithful
followers, was roaming perilously from place to place, from
province to province, in vain quest of help, now from his
brother Kamran at Labor, anon from the rulers of Marwar
and Sindh, Shir Shah was bringing province after province
in Upper India under his sway, driving Kamran out of the
* The rainy season in Bengal lasts from June to the end of Sep-
tember.
104 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Panjilb, overrunning Eajputana, and wresting Chitnr from
the discomfited Rajah of Mewar.
His death before Kalinjar in the hour of victory trans-
ferred the crown to his second son Selim Shah, who, sup-
planting his feeble elder brother, reigned in peace for
about nine years, and, Hke his able father, did much for the
internal improvement of his dominions.* He was suc-
ceeded in 1553 by his brother Mohammad Shah, who
secured his power by the murder of his child nephew, and
lost half bis dominions through successful revolts in the
coiu'se of bis three years' reign.
By this time fortune, tired of persecuting the eldest son
of Babar, opened the way for his triumphant return to
India and his father's throne. The first five years of
Humayun's exile had been a time of perilous adventures,
cruel hardships, and hairbreadth escapes. Driven from
Labor by his brother's self-seeking policy, he had fled to
Sindh for the aid he was not to find there. Crossing the
desert to Jodpiir with his household and a few followers,
many of whom died of thirst and weariness by the way, he
fared no better than before at the hands of a Hindu Rajah,
who had more reason to hate than help him. Thrown
once more upon the dreary desert, with enemies behind
him and before, each day's march bringing its own hard-
ships, each halt a fresh fight for water with the unfriendly
villagers, he lost all hope when the horsemen of Marwai-,
led by the son of their Rajah, closed in upon his small
band. But Rajput chivalry still spared the helpless.
Reproaching Humayun for entering the Rajput country
without leave, and for slaying the cattle which the Hindus
held sacred, the son of the Rajah supplied the fugitives
with food and water, and bade them depart in peace. A
few more days of wandering in the sandy desert brought
Humayun's diminished band to Amerkot on the borders of
* The stem-looking Pathan fort of Seli'mgarh at Dehli still bears his
name, and was probably built in his reign.
I
BABAR AND HBMAYUN. 105
Sindh, where they found rest and a kindly welcome from
its Hindn chieftain, Rana Parsad. Here it was that
Humayun's beloved Hamida gave birth, in October, 1542,
to the son, who afterwards became the glory of India
under the Moghals.
With the help of bis new friend, Humayun marched
into Sindh, and was making his way there against his old
enemy, Husen Arghiin, when Kana Parsad, fired by some
real or fancied affront, left the camp with aU his followers ;
and Humayun compounded with adverse fortune by re-
tiring in 1543 towards Kandahar. Into that city his wife
and child were admitted by his brother, Mirza Askari;
but Humayun himself gained no rest from wandering until
he found an asylum at Herat, then held by the Shah of
Persia, who treated him on the whole with great, though
fitful munificence, and agreed to aid him in wresting
Kabul from his brother Kamran, on condition of his em-
bracing the Shia tenets of Islam, and ceding Kandahar to
his Persian ally.
These terms accepted, the royal exile set forth on his
appointed task with a few hundi-ed of bis own adherents,
aided by 14,000 Persian horse. In the autumn of 1545
Kandahar surrendered ; but with the treachery of his race
Humayun took the first tempting occasion to turn out the
Persian garrison and replace them by his own troops.
Kabul, which he took at the beginning of that winter and
lost again during his absence in Badakshan, was recap-
tured in the spring of the year 1547.
His hold upon the country was still, however, uncertain.
A reconcOiation between the four sons of Babar was ere
long stultified by a fresh revolt on Kamran's part ; fresh
mishaps awaited the much-enduring Humayun ; and not
till 1551 did he find himself once more master of Kabul
and the surrounding country. Chased from one shelter to
another, Kamran was at length betrayed into the hands of
his long-suffering brother, who commuted with the loss of
lOG HISTORY OF INDIA.
his eyes the death- sentence awarded hy the Moghal officers
of state.*
Humaj-un's thoughts still turned to the scene of his
early greatness and his father's renown. The new Pathan
empire was already breaking up, but years of peril had
taught him caution. Superstition, however, came to the
aid of his natm-al restlessness ; encouraging omens bade
him venture on the path to which many friends and many
circumstances were already inviting him. At length, in
December, 1554, he marched from Kabul, made his way
to Labor, inflicted a crushing defeat on Sikandar Shah at
Sirhind,f and once more entered the gates of Dehli in July,
1555, after an absence of nearly sixteen years.
He was not, however, to enjoy his new-found throne for
long. About six months afterwards, he was going down
the stairs outside the terrace of his library, when the cry
to prayer reached him from the nearest minaret. After
praying like a good Mussulman on the spot, he was rising
with the help of his stafl', when it slipped on the smooth
marble of the steps, and the king fell headlong over the
low parapet. On the 25th Januaiy, four days after his
fall, the brave but unlucky son of Babar breathed his last,
in the forty-ninth year of his age, after a career at least as
stormy as his father's, set off by many of his father's
noblest and most endeaiing, as well as some of his weaker
traits.
* The " Memoirs " quoted by Elph in stone, book vii. chap. 4, say
nothing of the previous sentence, but would lead us to regard the
blinding of Kamran as an act of needless cruelty on Hnmayun'a part.
That, however, seems to be an unfair view of Humayun's character.
t Young Akbar, then but twelve years old, was in the thickest of
the fight. Sikandar was a nephew of the great Shir Shah.
I
107
CHAPTER n.
JALAL-UD-DIN ASBAH, 1556 1605.
The throne to which Akbar succeeded in his fourteenth
year was very different from that which he handed down
to his successors. Enemies, open or secret, were plotting
or rising against him on every side. He had hardly sent
Sikandar Shah once more flying to the mountains, and
despatched some of his troops to the help of his ministers
in Kabul, when Hemu, the Hindu general who stiU fought
for Mohammad Shah, the last king of Shir Shah's line,
advancing from Bengal, captured Agra, occupied Dehli,
and encamped on the fatal field of Panipat. It was a
trying moment for the new dynasty when Akbar's general,
Behram Khan, resolved, with the young king's willing
sanction, to stake the hopes of the Moghals on the issue
of a battle against tremendous odds. On the morning of
the 5th November, 1556, the fight began which ended in
the utter rout of Hemu's army and the capture of its
brave leader, badly wounded. Urged by Behram Khan
to win the title of " Ghazi " — Champion of the Faith —
by slaying the captive with his own sword, the generous
Akbar refused to strike a wounded foe, and the fatal
stroke was dealt by Behram himself.
A campaign in the Panjab ended in the final surrender
of Sikandar Shah, who retired to Bengal, where the
Pathans still held their ground. For the next three years
the government of Dehli was wielded by the able but too
imperious Behi-am, some of whose actions galled the pride
and imperilled the authority of his young master. At
108 HISTORY OF INDIA.
length, in 1560, Akbar by a sudden eflfort took the reins
of state into his own hands, and the unseated minister pre-
sently went into rebellion, in hopes of carving out a sepa-
rate kingdom for himself. Foiled, however, by Akbar's
promptitude, he had to throw himself on his sovereign's
mercy. His prayers for pardon were heard by a prince
who forgot his late offences in remembrance of his former
great deeds. Raising the suppliant with his own hand,
Akbar placed him by his side, and bade him choose
between high oiSce at court or elsewhere and an honour-
able retreat to Mecca. Behram chose the latter, but was
stabbed on his way through Gujarat by an Afghan whose
father he had slain in battle.
For many years to come Akbar's throne was anything
but a bed of roses. He had stUl to reconquer the greater
part of India, to control his unruly nobles, to win the
goodwill or break the power of formidable Hindu and
Mohammadan princes, to restore order and well-being
throughout his dominions, to lay anew, in short, the foun-
dations of a great and lasting empire. His own country-
men were mere strangers in the land, compared with the
Pathans, who had been taking root there for three centuries
past, and who, like the Norman settlers in Ireland, had
lost many of their distinctive features by close and con-
tinual contact with surrounding races. It was Akbar's
chief glory that he saw clearly what he had to do as a
wise ruler of a distracted coimtry, and did it steadily with
all his might. Through all the warfare of his long reign
he acted on the principle of treating his enemies as though
they might become his friends, and this far-seeing policy
was justified by almost unvarying success. His highest
aim was to unite all classes, creeds, and races in India
under one mild equitable rule ; and his achievements in
that direction have been rivalled by very few piinces in
any age or country.
In the first four years of his reign, Akbar extended his
JALAL-UD-DIN AKBAR. 109
conquests over Ajmir, Gwalior, Audli, and Jaimpur. In
1561 Malwa was wrested from the Afghans by Abdullah
Khan, an Uzbek leader, who afterwards sought to keep
the province for himself. Akbar was not long in march-
ing against the rebel, who fled to Gujarat. The tui-bulence
of commanders who tried to retain the government, or, at
least, the plunder of the provinces they helped to win,
would have reduced their young sovereign to a mere
puppet, but for his boldness in dealing with so common a
danger to the Mobammadan power. Zeman Khan, the
conqueror of Jaunpiir, had once already succumbed to
Akbar's resolute bearing ; but now he joined with the dis-
affected Uzbek lords in Mulwa in leading a formidable
revolt, which Akbar, with hands full of other annoyances,
could not for several years succeed in quelling. While
the emperor was chasing his disloyal brother Hakim out
of the Panjab, the Uzbek rebels pushed their way into
Audh and Allahabad. But Akbar's daiing strategy served
him well on this as on many another occasion. By a
swift and sudden march, with only 2,000 men he swooped
down upon the rebel camp across the Ganges, slew or
captured several of their leaders, and drove the scared
troops before him in wild disorder. They never rallied
again, and thus a revolt which had made head against his
best generals, was quelled at last by the brilliant energy of
Akbar himself.
His arms were next turned against Chitor, whose Eajah,
a son of the great Rana Sanga, retired into the hills,
leaving behind him a picked garrison of 8,000 men. The
siege of the fortress-city was carried on with patient skill by
means of regular zigzags and well-laid mines. But the
defence was equally stubborn, and not tiU their brave and
skdlfol leader, Jai Mai, had fallen by a well-aimed shot from
Akbar's own bow did the garrison lose heart. Then, with
the usual wild courage of their race, they slew their women,
and rushed out to meet their own fate from the Mussulmans
110 HISTORY OF INDIA.
who had already mounted the breaches. They perished
nearly to a man, and the fall of their famous stronghold sent
a shiver of dismay through all Rajasthan. Udi Singh him-
self remained untouched in his native wilds ; but the hiU-forts
of Rantambor and Kalinjar ere long fell to Akbar's arms,
several of the foremost Rajput princes tendered their alle-
giance to the new power, and a few of them afterwards
rendered it loyal service as soldiers, statesmen, or governors
of important provinces. Princesses of the purest Rajput
blood had already begun to enter the Imperial household
as wives of Akbar, his sons, and kinsmen.* It is stiU the
boast of the Ranas of Udaipiir — the city founded by the
son of Udi Singh some years after the capture of Chitor
— that the ladies of their house alone have never stooped
to intermarry with the kings of Dehli.
Akbar's merciful treatment of the Hindus bore good
fruit in his subsequent warfare against his cousins and
their allies in Gujarat. In 1572 the last king of that
country had made him a formal tender of his crown, and
Akbar at once proceeded to make himself master of his
new kingdom. In one of his rapid marches he found him-
self with only 156 men in front of 1,000 of the enemy.
But his little band included the Rajah of Jaipur and his
nephew Man Singh, and their steadfast courage not only
saved his life, but enabled him also to beat off and scatter
his assailants. One of his rebel cousins was afterwards
routed by Rajah Rai Singh of Marwar.
Hardly had Al^bar returned to Agra from the conquest
of Gujarat, when his cousin Mirza Husen once more defied
him to the issue of battle. With a force of about 3,000
picked men the prompt Moghal marched more than 450
miles in nine days, and suddenly confronted the insurgent
troops near Ahmadabad. In a succession of bold charges
* Akbar had married two queens from the houses of Jaipur and
Marwar, and a princess of Jaipur was already married to his eldest
son.
JALAL UD-DrS AKBAR. Ill
he swept through and through the astonished foe ; a suc-
cessful sally £i-om the city crowned his own efforts, and the
siege of Ahniadabad was raised. Peace restored to the
country, he again returned to Agra, the capital of his
choice.
Two years afterwards he had entered upon the harder
work of reconquering Bengal and the rest of Bahar from
the Pathans, whose ruler, Daud Khan, had never paid his
promised tribute to the Moghals. Before Akbar's steady
advance Daud retired into Orissa, where he held his
ground for a time against Akbar's generals, including the
renowned Todar Mai, his Hindu Minister of Finance.
Driven at length into a comer, he made peace on condi-
tion of retaining Orissa for himself. In a few months,
however, he was again tempted to try his fortune with
Akbar ; but his defeat and death in a pitched battle with
the Moghal troops ensured the overthrow of the Afghan
power in Bengal and Bahar. It was not, however, until
three years later that these new conquests were brought
into perfect order, after Todar Mai and his successor had
put down a formidable rising among Akbar's own troops ;
and not tUl 1592 was the Afghan power in Orissa finally
broken by Man Singh.
Meanwhile Akbar himself had had to deal with his rest-
less brother Mirza Hakim, who in 1581 invaded the
Panjab from Kabul, and drove the governor, Man Singh,
into Labor. After chasing him back to Kabul, and thence
into the mountains, Akbar, with his usual nobleness, for-
gave his brother's offences, and left him in charge of
Kabul untU his death. This generous pohcy, however,
was not always equally successful. At this very time the
late king of Gujarat, Mozaffar Shah, on whom Akbar had
bestowed a jagir, or feudal estate, started a new insur-
rection in his former kingdom. Driven out of the inland
provinces, Mozaffar still held his ground in Katiawar for a
few years longer, until in 1593 he was given up to the
112
HISTORY OF INDIA.
Imperial commanders, and slew himself on his way to the
Emperor's court.
Master of Kabul, Akbar ere long set himself to conquer
Kashmir. The invading aimy made its way in 1587 to
Srinagar, the capital ; and the king, on making his sub-
mission, was compensated with a noble jagir in Bahar.
Meanwhile Akbar's generals were engaged in a vain
SRlXAGAlt, CAPITAL OF KASHMIR.
attempt to subdue the lawless mountaineers of Swat and
the Khaibar. In 1586 the Moghal troops got hopelessly
entangled among the rugged hills and gorges of Swat ; the
Rajah BirBal's division perished nearly to a man under the
swords of the daring Yusufzais ; and his colleague Zain
Khan was driven back with heavy loss to Atak, where
Akbar had lately built the fort that still overlooks the
Indus. Fresh troops sent into the mountains under Todar
JALAL-CD-DIN AKBAK. 113
Mai and Man Singh made some impression upon the foe
by cutting oflf supplies and establishing a chain of strong
posts in commanding positions. But the Yusufzais were
never thoroughly subdued, and the legacy of trouble which
Akbar bequeathed to his successors has not yet been ex-
hausted even under the British rule.
It was about this time that Kandahar and Sindh were
annexed to Akbar's dominions ; * the one conquest com-
pleting the range of his old hereditary possessions, the
other leaving him undisputed master of all India north-
waxd of the Narbadha, save perhaps the tract of country
stm held against him by the Rana of Udaipiir.
Akbar's hopes were now turned to the Dakhan, whither
a way for his arms seemed to open itself in the offer made
him by one of the rival claimants to the throne of Ahmad-
nagar. His troops marched upon the capital, but the
brave woman Chand Bibi, who held it for her child-nephew,
maintained a defence so stout and heroic, that, after more
than one attempt to storm the city, Prince Morad was fain
to let her alone on condition of being allowed to occupy
Berar.
A few months later war was renewed. Chand Bibi had
fallen into the power of her own minister, who forced her,
in spite of the late treaty, to enter into a league with the
other princes of the Dakhan. Early in the next year
Prince Morad encountered the allies at Sonpat on the
Godavari. A furious battle, which lasted two days, led to
no more tangible issue than a protracted quarrel between
the Moghal prince and his colleagues in command. At
length Akbar himself resolved to interfere in person.
Leaving the Panjab, where he had long been staying, he
reached the Narbadha in 1599, and sent an army to renew
the siege of Ahmadnagar. In spite of the murder of the
brave Chand Bibi by the agents of a hostile faction, in the
* In his w.ir against Akbar the chief of Sindh employed Portnguese
soldiers and native Sipuhis, dressed as Enropeans.
I
114 HISTORY OF INDIA.
midst of her efforts to treat for peace, the Moghals soon
stormed the place with heavy slaughter ; the young king
was sent prisoner to Gwalior, and the final conquest of
the whole kingdom might have heen forestalled by many
years had Akbar's return homeward not been hastened by
unforeseen events. As it was, however, he stayed in the
Dakhan long enough to complete the conquest of Khandesh,
to betroth one of his sons to a princess of Bijapur, and to
cripple beyond recovery the power of the Abmadnagar
kingdom.
The cause of his sudden return to Hindustan was the
revolt of his eldest son Selim, who, left in charge of the
home government, took advantage of his father's absence
to seize upon Audh and Bahar, plunder the treasury at
Allahabad, and proclaim himself a king. Cruel, violent,
and revengeful, he had already, at thirty years of age,
impaired his great mental powers and heightened his worst
traits by hard drinking and excess of opium. Akbar, in
terms of fatherly loving-kindness, entreated him to forego
his unfilial projects, and all would be forgiven. In the
very midst of their negotiations Selim was plotting the
death of Abul Fazl, one of Akbar's most trusted friends
and oificers, and the chief historian of his reign. In
happy ignorance of his son's share in the murder of so
dear a friend, Akbar renewed his offers of reconcDiation,
and Selim, returning to a show of duty, took up his abode
at Allahabad.
Fresh quarrels, the fruit of fresh excesses on Selim's
part, were hardly appeased when Akbar, who had akeady
lost his son Morad fi'om illness, had to mom-n the death
of his third son. Prince Danial, from chronic drunkenness.
All these things preyed upon his own failing health, and
his dying hom-s were further embittered by the intrigues
of opposing factions at his court. Plans were formed for
setting the unpopular Selim aside in favour of his eldest
son Khusrii, the child of his Kajput wife. Akbai-'s in-
JAIAL-TJD-DIN AEBAB. 115
fluence, however, asserted itself in the jaws of death. The
plot came to nothing ; and in the presence of his weeping
son and reconciled nobles, the dying king murmured his
last injunctions to peace, goodwill, and loyal discharge of
duties on the part of each and all there assembled. En-
treating the forgiveness of any whom he might have
offended, and commending to his son's care his own friends
and the ladies of his household, Babar's glorious grandson
ere long passed away amidst the prayers of his chief
Mullah, on the last day of his sisty-thhd year, in the fifty-
second year of a reign which began two years before and
ended two years after that of our own Elizabeth.
He died in outward seeming a better Mussulman than he
had hved. His early devotion to the faith of Islam had
long since yielded to a spirit of philosophical inquii-y and
large-hearted tolerance for all kinds of worship, as ex-
pressions of human yearning towards a common God.
The same generous instinct which shrank from slaying the
captive Hemu afterwards led him, in the teeth of the
prevailing bigotry, to show equal courtesy to men of every
creed, and to encourage Christian priests and Brahman
pandits in holding free discussion with the learned doctors
of Islam. The Christians he treated with marked respect,
paying reverence even to images of Christ and the Virgin
Mary, and allowing his son Morad to study the Christian
Gospels. His innate piety, guided by a powerful intellect,
a tender heart, and a romantic sense of justice, taught him
to see good in forms of worship the most diverse, and to
eschew the persecuting habits so dear to well-meaning
zealots of every creed. In his hands the sword of Mahomet
became a sceptre of upright and merciful dealing with
all whom circumstances placed under his power.
In accordance with his love of evenhanded justice, he
annulled all legal sanctions even for practices ordered by
the Koran. No man was any longer forced by law to fast,
attend pubKc worship, go on pilgrimage, or abstain from
i2
116 HISTORT OF INDIA.
■wine and unclean meats ; and the rite of circumcision was
put oif till the age of twelve, in order that the young
believer might be free in a measure to choose his religion
for himself. In the same spirit he forbade the burning of
Hindu widows against their wUl, the marriage of Hindu
children before a fit age, and the Hindu practice of trial
by ordeal.* The latest efforts of English legislation in
India were forestalled by a decree allowing Hindu widows
to marry again. All taxes on pilgrims, temples, religious
rites, and the hateful Jiziya or poll-tax so long exacted
from the conquered Hindus were done away, and a stop
was put to the cruel old Mohammadan practice of selling
into slavery all prisoners taken in war. The more zealous
Mussulmans shrugged their shoulders at these lapses from
orthodox usage ; but the reforming emperor held his own
way, and their anger seldom broke into open remonstrance
against changes decreed by " God's Khalif," with the
virtual assent of doctors learned in Mohammadan law.j
In substituting a new era dating from his own accession
for that of the Hijra, he may have been impelled by the
same kind of vanity which led him to enforce the nn-
Mohammadan practice of prostration before the king.
His extreme intolerance of the beards worn by all good
Mussulmans appears to lack even the excuse of public
policy, claimed for the war which Tzar Peter afterwards
waged against the beards of Muscovite orthodoxy. But in
the former instance it is only fair to credit him with the
good results of a change, which at least included the more
scientific method of reckoning by solar instead of lunar
months and years.
Improving on the example of the Bijapur kings, Akbar
• On one occasion, hearing that the Rajah of Jodpiirwas forcing his
son's widow to do Sati, he rode off to the spot to prevent the intended
sacrifice.
t Akbar took care to obtain the legal opinion of his chief lawyers,
that as head of the Church he had a right to govern it according to his
own judgment. (Elphinstone's " India," book ix. chap. 3.)
JALAL-UD-DIN AKBAR. 117
gave high employment to Hindus of mark or promise.
The Eajah Man Singh became one of his foremost generals
and most trusty governors. Bir Bal perished as we saw
among the hills of Swat. Bhagwan Das of Jaipur, Akbar's
brother-in-law, took a leading part in the conquest of
Kashmir ; while Eajah Todar Mai ecHpsed his own renown
as a successful soldier by his civil government of Bengal
and the great financial reforms which, as Akbar's prime
minister, he succeeded in carrying through.* Under men
like these, thousands of Hindus fought in the Imperial
ranks, or found a wide field for their talents in every
branch of the civil service, except the judicial, which was
still reserved for Mohammadans alone. In all suits, how-
ever, between Hindus, justice was dealt out by the Moham-
madan judges in strict accordance with Hindu law.
At once among the bravest and most merciful of men,
Akbar never took the field himself without chaining victory
to his standard, nor ever stained his arms with needless
cruelties. But the need for his presence over, he left his
commanders to follow up his own successes ; and enjoining
them to deal humanely with the conquered, betook him-
self with unfeigned pleasure to works of peace, especially
to the great work of establishing order and good govern-
ment throughout the fifteen provinces of his empire.
For this end he found a fitting helpmate in Todar Mai,
whose scheme for settling the land-revenue seems in the
main to have developed the reforming policy of Humayun's
conqueror, Shir Shah. The land was divided into three
classes, whose degrees of fruitfulness were measured by
one uniform standai-d. For each bigah — equal to about
two-thirds of an acre— the average yield of its class was
taken, and of the common average one-third was set apart
for the government claim. The money value of that third
was reckoned upon an average of prices for nineteen years
back, and the husbandman was free to pay the State's
* Todar Mai was a Hindu from Lahdr.
118 HISTORY OF INDIA.
share either in money or in kind. These assessments, at
first made yearly, were afterwards revised only once in ten
years, on an average of payments for the previous ten.
All matters bearing on these settlements were duly entered
from time to time in the village registers. No existing
tenures were altered or ignored. Great care was taken to
respect the rights and redress the grievances of every
husbandman. For revenue purposes the country was
parcelled out into districts of a certain value, each placed
under its own collector. A great many vexatious fees and
taxes were removed, and the system of farming the re-
venue was done away. The net result of these measures
was to lighten the land of many burdens without much
reducing its fiscal value to the State. Keforms like these,
however imperfect, went far to secure the happiness of the
people, and served as the foundation on which our own
countrymen were afterwards to build.*
In reforms of police and public justice the great emperor
showed himself equally zealous, in bis own despotic fashion,
for his people's good. Criminals were punished without
needless cruelty in certain prescribed ways ; torture was
wholly forbidden ; and in ordinary cases no one could be
judicially put to death until his sentence had been con-
firmed by Akbar himself. His troops were regularly paid
in cash, their equipment carefully supervised, and false
returns of men and horses checked by musters taken be-
fore each issue of pay. Each of the officers appointed by
the king had to keep so many men, horse, foot, mateh-
lock-men, and archers, ready for service at need. The army
thus maintained, however fit for its purpose, was still a
mere collection of chance levies, compared with the stand-
ing armies of modern Europe.
• Elphinstone's " India," book be. chap. 3. Colonel Meadows Taylor
("Manual of Indian History") points to the close resemblance between
Akbar's revenue-settlement and the recent survey and aasesament of
Bombay.
I
1
I
JALAL-UD-DIS AKBAR. 119
With a soldier's eye for defensive purposes, Akbar built
the river-fortresses of Atak on the Indas, Agra on the
Jamna, and Allahabad at the meeting of the Janma with
the Ganges. In all branches of public business, his hand
was visible, sweeping away old abuses, retrenching need-
less outlay, and devoting part of his great revenues* to
works of pubhc usefulness or Ksthetic grandeur. His piety
reared near DehU a noble tomb to the memory of his
father Humayun. His splendid taste in architecture shone
out in the mighty gateways, broad quadrangles, and white
marble domes of Fathipiir Sikri, whose ruined glories still
iix the traveller's wondering gaze, t Nor did he fail to
repair and extend the system of canals and waterworks
begun two centuries earlier by Firoz Toghlak. To a
Mir-ab, or Chief of the Waters, he entrusted the supreme
control of all such works, including the collection of water-
rents and the even distribution of water to those who
needed it, whether rich or poor. With kindly thought
for his people's comfort, he ordered the planting of trees,
" both for shade and blossom," along both sides of the
canal first cut by Firoz between Kamal and Hissar. J
Of this great and wise monarch httle more remains here
to tell. His tall but weU-kiiit frame, mighty chest, and
long sinewy arms, seem to hint something of that great
bodily strength which delighted in walks of forty and in
rides sometimes of a hundred miles a-day. His eyes
were full and dark, his skin of a ruddy brown. He was
equally at home in the battle-field, in the jungle hunting
tigers or tracking wild elephants, in the palace weighing or
refuting the arguments of rival priests or sages, in the
council-room discussing points of statecraft with ministers
* He is said to have drawn from India a revenue of thirty millions
sterling, more than half of which came directly from the land. See
Thomas's " Revenue Eesonxces of the Moghal Empire."
t Its magnificent ruins cover miles of ground on the road from Agra
to Jaipur,
X Kaye's " Administration of the East India Company," p. 29.
120 HISTORY OF INDIA.
like Abul Fazl and Todar Mai. Fond in his youth of
wine and good living, in bis after years he kept both these
likings under stern control. Amidst the splendour of his
public progresses and receptions, he astonished strangers
from the West by his unstudied courtesies and simple
tastes. He slept, we are told, but three hours a-day,
spent hours together on public business, and took a keen
interest in mechanical arts, especially in the casting of
guns and the manufacture of other weapons. A steady
friend, a generous foe, a forgiving father, a ruler merciful,
upright, shrewd to select the fittest agents for his work,
Akbar has left behind him one of the brightest names in
the history of any country, a name whose lustre remains
uudimmed alike by the flatteries of indiscreet fi-iends and
the abuse of unsparing foes. *
* One of these indiscreet friends was Abul Fazl himself, whose
" Akbamamah " is one long panegyric. The most valuable record of
Akbar's home government is the Ain-i-Akbari, or Code of Regulations,
drawn up by Abul Fazl under his sovereign's direct superrision.
121
CHAPTER m.
jahIngi'r, 1605—1627.
The new emperor, Selim, under the sounding title of
Jahangir, " Conqueror of the World," succeeded peace-
fully at the age of thirty-seven to his father's throne.
His earher measures went far to allay the fears engendered
by his past shortcomings. His father's old officers were
retauied in their posts ; some vexatious duties and bar-
barous practices which Akbar had left untouched were
swept away ; himself a notorious drimkard, he strictly
forbade the use of wine and regulated that of opium.
The Mohammadan creed reappeared upon the coinage,
and the forms and ritual of the old religion resumed their
place in the outward life of the imperial household.
The old nature of the man, however, soon revealed
itself. In the spring of 1606, a few months after the
emperor's accession, his son Khusru broke into rebellion,
but a month afterwards found himself a prisoner in his
father's hands at Labor. Seven hundred of his followers
were forthwith impaled alive on a double line of stakes
outside one of the city gates.* Along this ghastly avenue
the wretched prince was borne upon an elephant, and com-
pelled each day to witness the frightful agonies of the
victims to his own ambition and his father's fierce revenge,
so long as one of them remained ahve. He himself was
carried to Kabul, where the discovery of a plot for his re-
lease again hardened his father's heart just as the emperor
had begun to relas the closeness of his son's confinement.
* Elphinstone, quoting Jahangi'r'a Memoirs, gives that number,
which Dow reduces to three hundred.
122 HISTOEY OF INDIA.
The next few years were marked by the efforts of the
imperial commanders to subdue the Rana of TJdaipur, and
to complete the conquest of the Dakhan, then ruled in
fact by MaKk Ambar, the great Abyssinian noble, who,
for twenty years after the murder of the brave Chand
Sultana, upheld the sinking fortunes of the house of
Nizam Shah. Very Uttle progress did the Moghal arms
make against the Eajput bighlanders of Mewar, untU the
emperor's third son, Prince Khurram, ere long to be
known as Shah Jahan, took the field in person, and
proved his generalship by compelling the Kana of Udaipiir
to sue for peace. Mindful of his grandfather's pohcy.
Shah Jahan raised from the gi'ound his suppliant foe,
placed him by his own side, and treated him with all
kingly courtesy. The heir to the glorious memories of
Eana Sanga, the ruler of a kingdom independent for many
centuries, now became the vassal of the great Moghal ;
but the country which Akbar had conquered from the
kings of Mewar was restored to that vassal's keeping, and
his son was raised to one of the chief posts of honour at
Jahiingir's court.
Two years after his successes in Eajputana, Shah
Jahan was sent to retrieve the mishaps of former com-
manders in the war against Malik Ambar. Abandoned by
his ally, the king of Bijapur, the great Abyssinian was
soon forced to surrender the provinces he had won back
from the Moghals. Within four years, however, Shah
Jahan was again marching towards the Narbadha to drive
Malik Ambar's Afghans and Marathas back to their ap-
pointed boundaries. In spite of his skilful soldiership,
the champion of Ahmadnagar was brought to battle and
again beaten by his former conqueror, who granted him
the peace he asked for at a heavy price in territory and
rupees.*
* One of Malik Ambar's chief followers wjvs Shahji, father of Sivaji,
founder of the Mariltha power.
JAHANGIR. 123
In the midst of these successes trouble was lying in
wait for the victor himself at the hands of his stepmother
Nur-Jaban. Some time before his own accession Jahan-
gir had seen and loved the beautiful daughter of a Persian
gentleman, who, after many misfortunes, had taken service
in Akbar's court. But her hand was ah-eady pUghted to
one of Akbar's nobles, the brave Shir Afgan, who led her
away with him to his manor in Bardwan. StUl bent on
winning her for himself, Jahiingir, soon after he came to
the throne, would have bribed her husband into giving up
his treasure. On Shir Afgan's refusal, high words seem
to have passed between him and Jahangir's agent, the
Viceroy of Bengal. The latter fell under Shir Afgan's
dagger, and the murderer in his turn was slain by the
Viceroy's followers. Nur-Jahan, removed to Dehli, still
turned a deaf ear to Jahangu-'s addresses. At last, how-
ever, she yielded to his prayers or her own ambition, and
in 1611 the marriage was celebrated with unusual pomp.
From that time Nur-Jahan wielded over her husband
an empire which ended only with his Ufe. He caused her
name to be inscribed on the coinage ; in all matters which
attracted her notice her will became law. Her father was
made prime minister ; her brother was raised to an im-
portant post. Her taste enhanced the magnificence, her
good management kept down the expenses of the Emperor's
court. His vicious tendencies were so far held in check
by her sweet influence, that he seldom gave way to savage
outbursts, and never allowed himself to get drunk before
the evening.
To Shah Jahan, the ablest and best beloved of his sons,
the husband of her own niece, the Emperor's acknowledged
heir, she had hitherto given her powerful support. But
the death of her father, followed by that of Prince Khusru,
the marriage of her own daughter to the Emperor's fourth
son. Prince Shahriilr, and the serious illness of the
Emperor himself in 1621, all conspired to turn the am-
124 HISTORY OF INDIA.
bilious woman's heart against the object of her former
liliing. The report of her altered feehngs, of her intrigues
in favour of her new son-in-law, reached the ears of Shah
Jahan, who had just been ordered to retake Kandahar
from its Persian conquerors. His manifest unwillingness
to leave India on such an errand at a time so critical,
brought him into conflict with his deluded father. A year
passed away in fruitless interchange of messages between
Jahangir at Labor and his mistrustful son at Mandu, then
the capital of Gujarat. At last the quarrel blazed out
into open war, which told disastrously against Shah Jahan.
Driven out of the Dakhan by superior numbers, he sud-
denly turned northwards, led his troops boldly through
Orissa into Bengal, and early in 1624 defeated the
Governor of that province at Kajmahal.
For a short time he became master of Bengal and
Bahar. But the Imperial leaders followed him up ; his
own troops began to melt away, he himself fell sick, and
at length, in spite of the help aflbrded him in the Dakhan
by Malik Ambar, the hard-pressed Shah Jahan was fain to
accept the terms — surrender of his last strongholds, and
of his two sons as hostages — on which alone his father
would grant him peace and forgiveness.
By this time, however, a new quarrel of Nur-Jahan's
provoking was about to involve the Emperor in new
difficulties. Mohubat Khan, the Afghan general whom
the Empress had employed to aid her against Shah Jahan,
had aroused her jealousy by his late successes in the field
and his growing influence at Court. False charges were
brought against him, and by the Emperor's orders a cruel
outrage was inflicted on his son-in-law.* Mohabat soon
took his revenge. As the Emperor was marching towards
Kabul, Mohabat, who had been ordered to accompany
* A young nobleman, who had married Uohiibat's daughter without
the Emperor's leave, was stripped naked and flogged with thorns in
Jah^ngi'r's presence.
JAHANGIR. 125
liim, broke one morning into the tent where he lay sleep-
ing off his last night's carouse. Jahangir awoke to find
himself a prisoner, cut oflf from his troops on the other
side of the JhOam by a strong body of Rajputs, who
guarded the bridge of boats. Baffled in a daring attempt
to rescue her captive husband, Nur-Jahan resolved to
share his confinement in the hope of ere long finding a
way to set him fi-ee.
That hope was soon to be fulfilled. During a review of
the Imperial troops at Kabul, a body of her o^-n followers
managed to strike in between the Emperor and his guards,
and to bear the former away into the midst of assured
friendsi Mohiibat Khan was pardoned on condition of
restoring the Empress's brother, Asof Khan, to freedom,
and promising to go in chase of her enemy Shah Jahan.
The fortunes of that prince, a fugitive in Sindh, whom ill-
hoalth alone prevented from fleeing to Persia, had reached
their lowest ebb, when the death of his brother Parviz was
followed by new disagreements between his father and
Mohabat Khan. The prince and his late pursuer joined
forces in the Dakhan, and prepared to march towards
Agra, when the death of Jahangir freed his son from
further annoyances, and brought Nur-Jahan's power and
plottings to a timely end. Thenceforth, until her own
death in 1646, Jahangir's widow took no part in pubhc
affairs, devoting her life and the bulk of her magnificent
pension to the memory of her uxorious husband.
It was during the last two reigns that our countrymen
first made their way to the court of the Great Moghal. In
1607 Captain Hawkins had been sent out by the East
India Company with a view to obtain some footing for
Enghsh trade in Indian ports. Some twenty years earher
two Enghsh travellers, Ralph Fitch and .John Newbery,
had found themselves, after many hardships and narrow
escapes by land and sea, safe at last in Akbar's own citv
of Fathipur Sikri. Little, however, came of this journey,
12G
MISTOEY OF INDIA.
whose quaint and interesting details are recorded in Hak-
luyt's Voyages,* save fresh encouragement to that spirit of
English enterprise which the voyages and achievements of
Drake, Hawkins, Kaleigh, and other of Elizabeth's captains,
had just called into active play. Captain Lancaster's first
voyage in 1501, if it added little to our knowledge of India
itself, whetted the greed or the curiosity of Englishmen at
home. In December, IGOO, the Earl of Cumberland and
215 knights, aldermen, and merchants were enrolled by
royal charter into a company of merchants trading to the
East Indies, and invested among ether privileges with the
monopoly of our Eastern trade for the next fifteen years.
Their modest capital of £75,000 was at once laid out in
five vessels freighted with goods and bullion, and placed
under the command of Captain Lancaster, who in due
time brought home a goodly cargo from Sumatra and
Java, enriched with the spoils of a large vessel captured
from the Portuguese. Fresh fleets were afterwards des-
patched under Middleton, Keeling, and other captains,
who refilled their vessels, by fail- means or foul, with equal
scorn for the feelings of native traders and the exclusive
claims of their Portuguese rivals.
In company with Keehng went Captain Hawkins, who,
after many adventures and much resistance from the Por-
tuguese and their friends at Sui-at, met with a gracious
welcome at Agra, in 1609, from Jahiingir himself. For a
time all went hopefully with the English stranger. He
was promised a handsome salary whUe he stayed at court ;
an Armenian maiden was sought out and given him for
■nife ; his pleadings on behaK of the new company were
heard with seeming approval ; and leave was granted him
under the Emperor's seal to establish a factory at Surat.
* Richard Hakluyt, Archdeacon of Westminster, first published in
1582 a small collecfion of Voyages and Discoveries, aftenvards much
enlarged in 1589— IfiOO. He became the first historiographer to the
old East India Company, founded in IGOO.
JAH.VNGIR. 127
At last, however, his prospects began to change for the
worse. The intrigues of his enemies at Surat and of
Portuguese agents at Agra prevailed against him ; his
salary was left unpaid ; his interviews with the Emperor
grew less frequent; and at length, in November, 1611,
Hawkins set out on his homeward journey with the main
object of his mission unfulfilled.
A few months afterwards, however. Captain Best reco-
vered the gi'ound which Hawkins had won and lost. With
his four ships he inflicted a signal defeat on a Portuguese
squadron, which sought to keep English traders out of
Surat. His victory taught the Imperial officers to respect
those whom they had hitherto despised. In 1613 Jahan-
gir confirmed by formal treaty the privileges fii'st bestowed
on Hawkins ; and from that time Surat became the chief
seat of English trade in Western India.
The footing thus gained by the East India Company
was quickly followed up by the despatch of another
embassy to the Moghal Court. In the last days of 1015
Sir Thomas Eoe presented his letters from King James I.
to Jahangir, who received him with marked distinction at
Ajmir, and treated him for two years as an honoured and
even familiar guest. With very few exceptions, the great
men and courtiers followed the Emperor's example. Their
good-will indeed could not always be secured without
heavy bribes ; nor did Shah Jaban himself * look kindly
on the new-comers who sympathised with his brother
Khusru, and shared, however innocently, in the drunken
revellings at his father's court. In the end, however. Sir
Thomas overcame all obstacles by dint of unwearied
patience and cool address; and he returned to Surat
armed ■nith fresh powers on behalf of the Company, whose
* Hoe describes Mm as a tyrant and a bigot, who never smiled, nor
paid court to any one in particular ; " flattered by some, envied by
others, loved by noue;" but the picture must be tal<en with large
allowance for outward appearances and the force of personal prejudice.
129 HISTORY OF INDIA.
rights of trading were thenceforth extended to the whole
of India.
It was one thing to secure these rights on paper, but
quite another to enforce them against jealous rivals from
the West, and unwilling servants of the Moghal. Little by
little, however, the Company enlarged their outlay and
found new markets for their trade. A few years of joint
action between the Dutch and EngUsh companies in the
eastern seas closed abruptly in 1623 with the torture and
execution of twelve Englishmen at Amboyna,* on an
utterly false charge of conspiring to seize the Dutch fort.
Driven from the spice-bearing Moluccas, the English
turned their attention more and more to India itself, where,
besides their growing trade with Surat, they had already
gained a footing on the Malabar coast. In 1625, their
first settlement on the eastern or Coromandel coast was
founded at Armegaum, a little to the south of Vellor.
Within three years the new factory was armed with twelve
guns and manned by a small body of factors and soldiers.
Thither was removed the trade which some years earlier
had flowed to Masulipatam. Ere long, however, the trade
of Armegaum proved so unprofitable, that in 1639 Mr.
Day got leave from a native chief to build a new factory at
Madraspatam, the germ of Fort St. George and the popu-
lous city of Madras. But we must not further anticipate
the events which have to be recorded in the following
chapters.
* One of the largest of the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, in the Ea-steni
Archipelago.
129
CHAPTER IV.
SHAH JAHAN, 1628 1658.
On the death of Jahangir, his son Shah Jahan hastened
to Agra, where with the help of Nur- Jahan's brother, Asof
Khan, he quietly mounted his father's throne. Freed
from present anxieties by the captui-e and death of Shah-
riar,* the new emperor gave the reins to his taste for
splendid pageantry and architectural gi-andeur. In the
midst of festivals costing millions of rupees, and of magni-
ficent plans for rebuilding and adorning Dehli, he was sud-
denly called upon to put dovra a formidable revolt headed
by Khan Jahiin Lodi, one of his great lords and former
opponents, who claimed descent from the Pathan kings of
Dehli. Mistrustful of the emperor's feelings towards him-
self, he suddenly broke away from Agra with his household
and armed retainers, beat back the pursuing troops at the
Chambal, and, plunging into the ^-ilds of Bundalkhand
and Gondwana, made his way into the Dakhan, where he
counted on bringing many an old friend to his side, if not
on raising the whole of Southern India against the
Moghal. From the King of Ahmadnagar, who had just
lost his able minister, MaKk Ambar, he met with a warm
welcome; but the Kings of Bijapur and Golkonda held
aloof; and the Maratha chieftain, Sbabji, soon saw reason
to abandon his former friend, and enter into the service of
Shah Jahan. Defeated, hunted from place to place, and
baffled in every attempt to make a stand, Khan Jahan fell
* Not only Shahriar, but the sons of Prince Dania! also, were put
to death by Shah Jahan's orders.
E
ISO HISTORY OF INDIA.
at last fighting bravely near Kalinjar, at the head of a few
of his remaining followers.
After his death the war which he had kindled in the
Dakhan blazed up afresh. The King of Bijapur at length
took part with his neighbour of Ahmadnagar. On the
murder of the latter by his minister, Fattah Khan, the son
of Malik Ambar, his people made peace with the emperor,
who turned his arms against Bijapur. For several years
the king of that country defied the efforts of such able
commanders as Asof Khan and Mohabi.t Klian. Ahmad-
nagar, under its new master, Shahji, again joined the
conflict on the side of Bijapur ; and not till 1636 did Adil
Shah of Bijapur give up the doubtful game, on condition
of paying a yearly tribute to Shah Jahiin in return for a
large slice of the Ahmadnagar state. Next year Shahji
also made peace, and thenceforth Ahmadnagar ceased to
be an independent kingdom.
Meanwhile, in 1632, the Portuguese were finally driven
out of Hiiglili, near Calcutta, by order of Shah Jahan, who
had not forgotten the refusal of the Portuguese governor
to aid him in his hour of need against his father's troops.
After an existence of nearly a century, the fort at Hiighli
was stormed by the Moghals, a thousand of the garrison
were put to the sword, besides several thousands taken
prisoners, and only three out of three hundred ships in the
river made their escape. Thenceforth the Portuguese
power in Bengal was cmshed for ever.
In 1637, Kandahar, the old appanage of the House of
Babar, was surrendered to the Moghals by its governor,
Ali Mardan Khan. Ten years later, however, it fell again
into Persian hands, and the bravest eflbrts of Shah Jahiin's
officers and men failed, after three sieges, in winning it
back. Meanwhile, AU Mardan had tried the mettle of his
troops, including 14,000 Rajputs, in conquering Balkh for
Shah Jahan. After two years, however, of harassing war-
fare with the Uzbeks from beyond the Oxus, Shah Jahan
SHAH JAHAX.
131
•was glad to make over his new conquest to its former
master.
For two years after the failure of the last attempt on
Kandahar, the empire enjoyed unbroken peace. Shah
Jahan employed that interval in extending to the Dakhan
the revenue system shaped out by Todar ilal. Emulous
of Akbar's great example, his grandson governed well and
justly according to Eastern ideas, treating his subjects,
THE TAJ-MAUAL AT AGRA.
says Tavemier, as a father would treat his children, and
choosing for his ministers men like Saad TJUah Khan,
ablest and most upright of Indian viziers. In spite of
his lavish outlay on the court, on public shows, and the
embellishment of great cities, he seems to have raised
with ease a revenue of more than fifty millions, and he
left as much as twenty-four millions behind him in his
treasury. His people, on the whole, were prosperous and
k2
132 HISTORY OF INDIA.
contented. The noblest streets in modem Dehli, tlio
fortified palace with its marble halls and wide courts, and
the Jama Masjid, or Great Mosque of that city, attest the
splendour of his taste in building ; while the exquisite
Taj Mahal at Agra, with its taper minarets, soft-sweUing
marble dome, dehcate trellis-work, and flowing mosaics,
has few, if any, rivals in the world for stately grace and
symmetry of form, chaste brilliance of general eflect, and
finished beauty of rich but telling decoration. Reared in
memory of his empress, Mumtaz-Mahal, it has since served
to delight a long succession of strangers from the West.*
A yet costlier, if less noble, monument of decorative art
was the far-famed peacock-throne at Dehh, adorned with
a mass of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and other gems,
after the fashion of a peacock's tail.
Meanwhile, however, the ambition of Aurangzib, one of
the emperor's sons, and the intrigues of Mir Jumla, vizier
to the King of Golkonda, rekindled the flames of war in
the Dakhan, with results that proved ruinous in the long-
run to the Moghal empire. Appointed viceroy of the
Dakhan after his failure at Kandahar in 1653, Am-angzib
took up Mir Jumla's quarrel with his master, and per-
suaded the emperor to let him work his will on the king
of Golkonda. Haidariibad was sacked by the viceroy's
troops, and Abdullah Kutab Shah, driven into a corner,
accepted the hard terms imposed by Anrangzib.
At this moment died Mahmiid AdU Shah, the aged King
of Bijapur, whose capital he had adorned with some of
the noblest buildings to be seen in India. His death
became the pretext for new aggressions on the part of
Aurangzib, who claimed for the emperor the right of
naming an heir to the vacant throne. A Moghal army
made a sudden inroad into Bijapur. Marking his pro-
* Seen by moonlight, filling up one end of the cypress avenue leading
from the outer gate to the marble ten-ace whereon it stands, the Taj
gleams like a vision of fairyland.
SHAH JAHAN. 133
gress with fire and sword, Aurangzib at length besieged
the city of Bijapiir itself. The young king, whose troops
were chiefly away in the Carnatic, was ready to accept
such terms as his enemy might choose to force upon him,
when news of the emperor's serious illness reached the
camp of Aurangzib. Concluding a hasty peace with his
lately despairing foe, that crafty prince made ready to
take all advantage of an illness which at any moment
might end in death.
Then began a fight for empire between the four sons of
Shah Jahan. Dara Sheko, the eldest, who had for some
time shared his father's power and duties, was now in his
ibrty-second year — a frank, free-handed, open-hearted
prince, of undoubted talent, marred by an overbearing
temper and an utter want of common prudence. In reli-
gion a free-thinker of Akbar's school, he lacked one main
source of the influence wielded by his abler, warier, more
scheming, and far more bigoted brother, Aurangzib. Be-
tween these two came Prince Shuja, viceroy of Bengal,
whose talents were neutralised by his love of wine and
pleasure. Aurangzib's younger brother, Morad, viceroy
of Gujarat, was brave and generous, but dull-witted, glut-
tonous, and a drunkard. In him, however, the thh-d of
his father's sons found a convenient tool for the carrying
out of his own plans. Leaving Dara and Shuja to waste
their strength against each other, Aurangzib soon taught
the credulous Morad to look upon him as a firm upholder
of Morad's claim to their father's throne. They ageed to
join forces against the free-thinking Dara and his Hindu
heutenant, Jeswant Singh.
In April, 1658, Shuja, defeated by Soliman, the son of
Dara, withdrew from his fruitless struggle into Bengal.
Meanwhile Dara himself marched to his own defeat at the
hands of Aurangzib. FaUiag back from Ujain to Agra,
the beaten prince, impatient of his father's counsels, and
trusting to his own superior numbers, staked his own and
134 HISTORY OF IN'DU.
his father's fortunes on a battle fought near Agra in the
month of June. The day was nearly his own, when a
panic seized his troops, and Aurangzib, pressing forward,
drove them in wild flight from the field he had well-nigh
lost. Pushing his advantage, he marched on to Agra, took
his aged father prisoner, and, throwing otf the mask he
had hitherto worn, placed Morad also under close arrest.
On reaching DehU in August, he caused himself to be
proclaimed emperor in the room of Shah Jahan. The
deposed monarch lived for eight years longer, but his
splendid reign of thirty years ceased with the entrance
into Dehli of his nndutiful son.
During these years the English made further progress
in their Indian trade. In 1634 Shah Jahan gave the East
India Company leave to trade with Bengal, and the first
factory in that province was set up at Piph, near the
mouth of the Hiighli river. Two years afterwards a suc-
cessful cure wrought on the emperor's daughter by Mr.
Bonghton, one of the Company's surgeons, was rewarded,
at his own request, by new concessions to his employers.
In return for a Kke service rendered by that gentleman to
the household of Prince Shuja, his countrymen were
allowed to erect new factories at Hiighh and Balasor.
Meanwhile a rival company, favoured, for his own pur-
poses, by Charles I., attempted for about twenty years to
trade on their own account in the Eastern seas. At length,
however, the influence of the older body prevailed with
Cromwell's counciUors, and the two companies became one.
Sm-at and Madras formed two presidencies ; the fonner
having control over the settlements in the Persian Gulf
and Western India, while the latter held sway over the
factories in Bengal and along the Coromandel coast.
185
CHAPTER V.
AinvAKGziB, 1658 — 1707.
Under the title of Alamgir, Lord of the World, the new
Emperor began his reign. In the midst of his relentless
pursuit of his brother Dara, he was called away to en-
counter Shuja, who had once more taken the field with a
well-appointed army, and had already reached Banaras on
his march up towards Agra. The two brothers encountered
each other at Kajwa, a few marches to the north-west of
Allahabad. In spite of a sudden attack upon his rear by
his old opponent Rajah Jeswant Singh, the Emperor bravely
held his ground, untU by a mixture of cool courage, able
generalship, and good fortune, the imminent defeat was
turned into a crushing victory. Allahabad surrendered to
the conqueror, and Shuja, hotly pressed by Mir Jumla,
feU back into the heart of Bengal. The rainy season
compelled a pause in the pursuit ; but by the year's end
Shuja had been driven across the Brahmaputra. A few
months later he fled with a few followers into the Arakan
hills, where aU trace of him and his family verj' soon dis-
appeared.*
Meanwhile Dara, abandoned by Jeswant Singh, whom
his crafty brother had at length bought over to his own
side, led his recruited forces to a strong position near
Ajmir. Once more a hard-fought battle ended in his
defeat at the hands of his abler and more determined
brother. Ahmadabad shut its gates on the princely
* It is supposed that they lost their lives through plotting against
the Rajah of Arakan. (Elphinstone's " India," book ix. chap. 1.)
136 HISTORY OF IXDIA.
fugitive ; his wife died of fatigue and suifenBg on the
way to Kandahar ; and ere long Dara himself, with one of
his sons, was basely betrayed into the hands of his ruthless
brother by a man whom he had once befriended, the chief
of Jiin in Eastern Sindh. Led in chains, on a soiTy
elephant, through the streets of that Dehli whose heart
stiU yearned towards its recent master, the ill-starred cap-
tive was hurried to trial on the convenient charge of
apostasy from the faith of Islam. When his head was
brought to Aurangzib, the emperor made a show of weep-
ing over the fruits of his own unsparing ambition.
By a strange coincidence the two sons of Dara and the
son of his youngest brother Morad died shortly afterwards
in the prison they had been sharing together in Gwalior.
Morad himself, whose blind trust in Aurangzib had been
requited by a long imprisonment, was linaUy brought to
trial on a charge trumped up against him by his heartless
brother, and paid with his hfe the penalty of standing too
near the throne.
Soon afterwards another source of possible danger was
removed out of the Emperor's way. His ablest general,
Mir Jumla, had been ordered or encouraged to attempt the
conquest of Assam. For a time Mir Jumla carried all
before him ; but the rain-floods stopped him in mid-career ;
sickness raged among his troops ; and a disastrous retreat
to Dacca ended in their great leader's death. His memory
was honoured by his son's promotion, and an expressive
eulogy from the pen of Aurangzib.*
By that time the Emperor's alarming Ulness had for a
moment threatened his life as well as his throne. As he
lay in the last stage of weakness, he learned that his
enemies were plotting to set up Shah Jahan, or one of his
own sons, in his stead. Propped up by pillows, he in-
sisted on receiving anew the homage of his chief barons ;
♦ " You have lost a father," he wrote to llohammad Amin, " and 1
have lost the greatest and most dangerous of my friends."
AURANGZIB. 137
and wrote out the orders which his tongue still refused to
utter. By such means, with the help of his faithful sister,
Raushanara, he kept his enemies quiet until his recovered
health put aU hope of active resistance out of their heads.
About this time a new and more serious peril to the
House of Babar had begun to rear its head beyond the
Narbadha. The bold Maratha chieftain Shahji, whom we
lately saw carving a new kingdom for himself in the
Dakhan,"' was son of Maloji Bhosla, a Maratha captain of
horse under the orders of Jadu Rao, a distinguished Raj-
put leader, who, after following the fortunes of the re-
nc.med Malik Ambar, had at length thrown him over for
the sake of sei-ving under Shah Jahan. In due time
Maloji won for Shahji the hand of Jadu's highborn
daughter, to which he had long aspired in vain. By fair
means or foul Shahji in his turn fought his way among
the wrecks of fallen dynasties and dismembered kingdoms
to the lordship of large estates lying between Puna and
Bangalor.
His second son Sivaji, the future founder of the
Maratha empire, was brought up at Puna under his
mother's care, by his father's Brahman agent, Dadaji
Pant. Inm-ed from boyhood to hardy exercises, and
mingling constantly with the wild Maratha highlanders in
his neighbom-hood, Sivaji ere long broke from his tutor's
care, and became the leader of a band of lawless youths
ready to follow him in any raid, whether against the wild
beasts of their native hills or the Mohammadan dwellers in
the plains. At the age of nineteen he contrived to seize
the strong hill-fort of Torna, twenty miles south-west of
Piina. In the following year he built a new stronghold on
a neighbouring hUl. Ere long several other forts were
wrested from their Mohammadan masters, and placed
under the charge of his Maratha followers. Emboldened
by these successes, and enriched by the plunder of a con-
• See book iii. chap. 4.
138 HISTORY OF INDIA.
voy on its way to Bijapur, ho swooped down upon the
Kankan, and brought under his sway a good deal of the
rugged woody lowlands stretching westward from the
Ghats to the sea.*
At last the story of his exploits found its way to the
court of Bijapur. His father, Shahji, was seized as a
hostage for the offending son ; and a cniel death stared
him in the face, when Sivaji's appeal to the emperor Shah
Jahan opened the prison door to Shahji, if it failed as yet
to ensure his perfect fi-eedom. Four years later, when
Shahji's services were imperatively needed elsewhere,
Sivaji, by this time the eldest of his father's surviving
sons, began to renew his old raids, with a steadiness of
purpose heightened by religious zeal, and a boldness all
the more successful for the tiger-like cunning that knew
how and when to give it free play. A true Maratha in
that wily daring and unscrupulous pursuit of a given end,
which marked off' his Sudra countrymen from the high-
souled thorough-bred Rajputs of the north, he had long
since gathered, alike from the folk-lore of his native hills
and the religious surroundings of his boyhood, abundant
fuel for his ambition, and aU needful sanction for his most
unscrupulous deeds. Patriotism and piety alike impelled
him on that path of conquest, which was to end in the last
great struggle for empire between the Mariithas and the
countrymen of Lord WeUesley.
Before the end of 1655 Sivaji had laid violent hands
on the hill-country as far south as Satara. During the
three years of Aurangzib's viceroyalty, the wily Hindu
amused his powerful rival with loyal offers which he took
care not to fulfil. On Aurangzib's depai-ture, Sivaji re-
newed his old game against Bijapiir. An army sent to
punish him under Afzul Khan was lured into the woody
• The Ghats, or Siadri Hills, from 3,000 to 5,000 feet high, ran along
the western coast of India from the Tapti southwards, thirty or forty
miles from the sea.
AUHAI^GZIB. 139
ravines near his strong fort of Partiibgarh, where Afzul
himself fell treacherously murdered by Sivaji at a peaceful
interview, and his troops were slain or scattered by a
sudden onset of Maratha bands.
Next year the bold outlaw, hard pressed by his pur-
suers, escaped by a clever trick from the fort of Pauiila
after a close siege of four months. For several months
defeat and danger dogged his steps. It was not in Sivaji,
however, to despair. Fortune once more smiled on its
dariug follower; and before the end of 1662, with the aid
of his father, Shahji, he had won from the King of Bijapiir
a peace which left him master of the Kankan from Kalian
to Goa, and of the hill country between the Bima and the
Kistna, a dominion 250 miles long by nearly 100 broad.
His troops at this time already numbered 7,000 horse and
50,000 foot.
Freed from one enemy, Sivaji presently dared the wrath
of another, by raiding almost up to the walls of Aurangabad.
In vain did Aui-angzib's generals bear down upon the foe,
who gave way only to renew his attacks.* Driven out of
Piina and shtit up for a time in a neighbouring stronghold,
Sivaji suddenly burst away from his pursuers, and with
4,000 light-horsemen swooped down upon Surat. The
English and Dutch factories beat oif the invader ; but the
rich native city fell into his hands, and its plunder was
safely lodged in his fort of Raigarh.
The death of Shahji about this time threw into his son's
hands a large tract of country on the southern frontier of
Bijapiir. Armed with fresh means for mischief, Sivaji
began to worry the Moghals by sea. After capturing many
of their ships and taking heavy ransom from rich pUgrims
* One of Sivajfs most daring exploits was the attempt to slp-y
Aurangzib's uncle, Shaista Khan, who had taken up his quarters in
Sivajfs house at Piina, Entering the house in di=!guise, he so nearly
effected his purpose, that Shaista Khan lost two fingers in getting
away, while his son and most of his guards were cut to pieces by
Sivaji's followers.
140 HISTORY OF INTjIA.
Loimd for Mecca, he sailed at the head of a large fleet
down the coast to Barsalor, in Elanara, 130 miles south of
Goa. Enriched with the plunder of that once busy sea-
port, the royal freebooter — he had just assumed the title
of rajah — made a fresh inroad into the Moghal dominions.
By this time, however, the wrathful emperor had des-
patched a large army under Eajah Jai Singh against his
irrepressible foe, who deemed it best to purchase present
safety by surrendering most of the forts he had wrested
from the Moghals, on condition of holding the remainder
as a jagir fi-om Aurangzib. Another claim which the
emperor tacitly yielded, Sivaji's right to the " chauth,"
or a foui'th part of the Bijapiir revenues, became a fruitful
pi'etest for many a futui'e inroad into the heart of the
Moghal empire.
Under the standard of his countryman Jai Singh, Sivaji's
warriors fought so bravely in the next campaign against
Bijapiir, that Aurangzib in flattering terms invited Sivaji
himself to his court. So little, however, did the emperor's
treatment of his new guest, whom he shghted as a mere
adventurer and hated as a foe to Islam, appear to tally
with his former promises, that Sivaji, swaUowing down
his rage and disappointment, quietly prepared to escape
from the snares which his wily host had seemingly begun
to weave around him. His friends and followers once
fairly out of DehU, he himself, in the dirt and rags of a
Hindu fakir, made his way by bafiling mai'ches to the
Dakhan; and, nine months after his flight fi-om the capital,
was safely lodged in his own eyrie at Kaigarh.
This period, which also marks the death of Shah Jahan,
was perhaps the most prosperous of Aurangzib's long
reign. Little Tibet and Chittagong had just been added
to his dominions. His capital was thronged with envoys
from Arabia, Persia, Abyssinia, and the Khan of the
TJzbeks. The only clouds that darkened his prospects
were the faitoe of his designs on Bijapiir, and the re-
AURANGZIB. Ill
newed activity of Sivaji himself. Even before the latter's
return to Raigarh, his lieutenantp bad won back several of
their master's former strongholds, and Sivaji lost no time
in bettering their example. Jai Singh's successor, Jeswant
Singh, was bribed, or frightened into making peace with
his Maratha opponent on terms which the emperor, for
his own purposes, deemed it best to sanction.
Confirmed in his recent conquests, and endowed with a
new domain in Berar, Sivaji turned his arms against
Bijapur and Golkonda to such pm-pose, that the rulers of
both those states were glad to buy off their old assailant
with the promise of a yearly tribute. Two years of peace
passed by, which Sivaji devoted to the better government
of his various conquests. Great in peace as in war, he
ruled his subjects with a firm yet light hand, enforcing
equal justice between high and low, choosing his agents
from the ablest men in the land, and recruiting his
treasury by fair and regular processes. His troops were
highly paid and kept under the strictest discipline, and a
weU-ordered economy marked every branch of the public
service.
MeanwhUe the crafty emperor tried every art to lure
into his hands the one foe whom he seems to have chiefly
dreaded. Baffled at every turn by the wary Maratha, he
at length gave orders for his forcible seizure. The peace
thus broken, Sivaji at once forestalled his enemies by a
series of well-aimed and telling blows. By a daring night
attack a choice body of his mountaineers recovered the
strong fort of Singarh, near Piina. One of his generals
overran Khandesh, and levied the chauth on that province.
He himself once more plundered Surat, and Jinjera, on
the Kankan coast, only escaped his clutches by placing
itself under the protection of the Moghals. An army of
40,000 men, under Mohabat Khan, son of Shah Jaban's
old ally, was sent against him ; but half their number
were routed in fair fight by Sivaji's warriors, whose mettle
142
HISTORY OF INDIA.
bad never before been tried against tbe Moghals in tlie
open field.
For several years the war in the Dakhan languished,
while Aurangzib was engaged in a series of struggles, now
with the hill tribes of Afghanistan, anon with Hindu
fanatics and Rajput princes nearer home. Not till 1075
did he succeed in patching up a peace with the unruly
laaibari and Yusufzai borderers, who had destroyed a
Moghal army five years before. Next year the revolt of
the Satnaramis, a sect of Hindu devotees who had seized
Narnol and beaten back the troops at first sent against
them, was quelled with heavy bloodshed and fearful mas-
sacres. For some years back the emperor had done his
worst to estrange his Hindu subjects by a series of attacks
on their religion, by forbidding the fiu-ther employment of
Hindus in the public service, and by lightening the bur-
dens of the Blohammadans at theii- expense. At last the
reimposition of the hated Jiziya, and the attempt to seize
the widow and children of Rajah Jeswant Smgh, filled up
the measure of his ofi'ences, and relit the flames of war in
Rajputana.
Overawed by the emperor's swift movements and power-
ful array, the Rana of Mewar, or Udaipiir, agreed to a
peaceful compromise, which a few months later he appears
to have set at naught. A long and uncertain struggle,
embittered by mutual hate, by the inithless ravages of the
Moghals, and revived by the defection of Prince Akbar
from his father's side, ended in a peace which enabled
Aurangzib once more to turn his whole attention to the
Dakhan. But the old ties which had held the Rajputs
faithful to the empire for a hundred years past were rent
for ever. Aurangzib's bigotry had undone Akbar's work,
and the strife, thus hardly allayed by mutual concessions,
blazed up ever and anon during the rest of Aurangzib's
stormy reign.
Meanwhile Sivaji had not been idle. The death of the
AURANGZIB. 143
King of Bijapur tempted him to renew bis inroads on a
country ruled by a weak ministry, in tlie name of a child-
heir. Ere long nearly all the Southern Kankan had fallen
into his hands. In June 1674, he had himself crowned
with all solemnity at Raigarh. Nest year he was beating
up the Moghals in Ivhandesh, Berar, and the heart of
Gujarat. A well-planned aUiance with Golkonda opened
the way for his long and successful march across the
Kistna by way of Kadapah, Madras, and Jinji to Vellor.
Fort after fort, including Jinji and Vellor, fell to his arms,
his father's domains in Maisor were brought under his
rule, the chauth was levied through the Carnatic, and his
half-brother, Yenkaji, had to pay over half his revenue for
the peaceful retention of Tanjor. By the middle of 1678
Sivaji returned in triumph to Raigarh.
A few months afterwards Sivaji was on his way to help
Bijiipiir against its Moghal assailants, who were soon com-
pelled, by bis active efforts in theii- rear, to raise the siege
of that city. The price of his timely succour was the
cession of the Raichor Doab, between the Tumbadra and
the Kistna, and of full sovereignty over all Shahji's
domains in Bijapur. In the very flush of these last suc-
cesses the gi'eat Mai-atha leader succumbed to a sterner
foe than any he had yet encountered. A mortal illness
carried him off in 1680, in the fifty-third year of his age,
in the midst of a career not often paralleled in the history
of any country. From a mere leader of banditti he had
fought his way in thirty-four years, twenty of which had
been spent in braving the might of Aurangzib himself, into
the very highest rank of Indian heroes, and the lordship
of a kingdom strong enough to survive the onsets, and
ere long to break in pieces, the empire of the Moghals.
144
CHAPTER Xl.
AUBANGZIB — {continued.)
SivAji's eldest son, Sambaji, had no sooner mounted his
father's throne, than he took a cruel revenge on all who
had favoured the cause of his half-brother, Kajah Earn.
Dissolute as well as cruel, he left the management of
state affairs to his worthless favomite, Kaliisha, while he
himself launched out into all manner of sensual excesses.
From these he roused himself to renew his father's attacks
upon Jinjera ; but the Sidis or Abyssinians, who held that
city, forced him to raise the siege, defeated his fleet in the
harbour of Bombay, and laid waste a part of his own
dominions.
He had not long returned to his favourite pleasures,
when the advance of a Moghal army under Prince Moaz-
zim called him again into the field. Aurangzib himself
was marching southwards at the head of a powerful array
of horse, foot, and guns, followed by a train the most
magnificent that even India had ever seen. The fine
army which Moazzim led among the rocks and forests of
the Kaukan was so worried on its march by active Ma-
rutha horsemen, and so worn with hunger and disease,
that only a disordered remnant emerged into the country
eastward of the Ghats. Pi-ince Azim was equally unsuc-
cessful in his first attempt against Bijapiir. 'UTiile the
emperor himself in the following year was preparing to
move forward from Ahmadnagar, Sambaji's horsemen
scoui'ed the country in his rear, sacked and homed the
great city of Burhanpiir, overran Khandesh, and threatened
AXJRANGZIB. 145
Berar. Next year the same tactics were employed with
like snccess against Gujarat ; and Baroch, at the mouth of
the Xarbadha, shared the fate of Burhanpur.
The emperor, however, was not to be lightly turned
aside from his long-cherished schemes of conquest in
Southern India. Golkonda having in the meantime been
heavily punished for daring to accept aid from Sambaji,
he led his troops in person against the magnificent capital
of the Adil-Shahi kings of Bijapiir. A strict blockade
forestalled the more hazardous issues of a direct assault,
and on the 15th October, 1686, Aurangzib was borne
in triumph over the breach his guns had already made.
Three years afterwards, the last Pathan king of Bijapiir
died a prisoner in his conqueror's hands, and the great
city which his sires had embelhshed with mosques and
palaces of surpassing beauty was consigned to neglect and
its fatal follower, decay.
Within a year after the fall of Bijapiir, Golkonda also
had succumbed to the arms and treachery of Aui'angzib.
For seven months Abul Hasan, the last king of the Kutab-
Shahi line, defended his capital with the courage of
despair ; but treason fought against him, and in Sep-
tember, 1687, he too passed away from his throne to a
prison in the fort of Daulatabad.
No time was lost in continuing the work of conquest on
which Aurangzib had set his heart. Before the end of
1688, his rule extended to the borders of Tanjor ; and
Sambaji, steeped in debauchery, saw one after another of
his father's conquests fall away from his enfeebled grasp.
At length he himself, in the midst of a drunken revel, was
surprised by a body of Moghals, and borne off a prisoner
to the imperial camp. Offered his life on condition of
abjuring his creed, the proud son of Sivaji spurned the
bribe in terms of scornful ridicule, for which death alone
was deemed too light a punishment by the enraged
Moghal. After his eyes had been destroyed by a hot
116 HISTORY OF INDIA.
iron, and bis tongue cut out for revOing the Prophet,
he was at length beheaded along with his favouiite, Ka-
lusha.
For a time it seemed as if all India lay helpless at the
feet of Aurangzib. So wide an empire had never been
swayed by any former sovereign of Hindustan. But to the
last his hold upon the Dakhan remained insecure. Pro-
vince after province, fort after fort, was wrested from the
Marathas, and the conquered people for the most part
bowed their necks to the heavy burdens imposed by their
new master. But the most peaceful among them chafed
under the exactions of the imperial officers, and the levying
of the Jiziya rankled deep in the hearts of the wretched
Hindus. The disbanded soldiery of Bijapiir and Gol-
konda roamed the country in lawless troops, or offered
their services to Maratha leaders. There was little either
of peace or order in the new conquests. The spirit of the
Marathas also remained unbroken by passing defeats.
After Sambaji's death and the capture of his infant son,
his brother, Eajah Rim, upheld the fortunes of his Kne,
first at Raigarh, and, when that place was about to fall, in
the remote southern stronghold of Jinji. From that corner
of the Carnatic he cheered the hearts and guided the move-
ments of the Marathas against their puzzled foes. His trusty
lieutenants teased the Moghals with a kind of partisan
warfare, in which the latter with their heavy accoutre-
ments and luxurious habits were no match for the little,
hardy, light-clad, ubiquitous horsemen, whose usual food
was a cake of miUet with now and then an onion, who
slept bridle in hand under the open sky, and whose strong,
active, well-trained little steeds were always ready for the
work required of them. Careful to avoid a charge from
the heavy Moghal horse, they spread in countless bands
over the country, plundering every district which refused
to buy them otf, hanging on the flanks of Moghal armies,
cutting off their convoys, swooping down upon detached
AUKANGZIB. 147
bodies of troops, and never losing a chance of doing their
enemies the greatest possible harm.
To attack these hornets in their nests was a task which
long baffled the best of the Moghal commanders. Not till
after several years of bootless eflbrts did Jinji itself fall, in
1698, into the hands of ZuMkar Khan. Even then, how-
ever, the bold Rajah Ram renewed the struggle from his
next place of shelter at Satiira on the Western Ghats,
whence he himself at the head of a great army carried
his ravages as far eastward as Jalna, in Berar, before the
Moghals succeeded in driving him back. Soon after his
own death in 1700, Satara itself with several other strong-
holds was captured, after a brave defence, by the troops of
the persevering emperor. But in spite of frequent re-
verses, of dissensions among themselves, andof Aurangzib's
amended plans for their suppression, the Maratha leaders
rallied again and again round the standard of the manly-
hearted Tara Bhai, who, for some years, ruled her people
in the name of her late husband's heir, the boy Sivaji.
For the next few years Aurangzib tried hard to crush
his daring foes in the Dakhan. But for every fort he took
he paid heavily with the hves of his own men ; fresh
swarms of Marathas worried him at every turn ; floods,
famines, and deadly fevers weakened his resources or slew
his troops. The untamable Rajputs of Mewar and the
rebellious Jats of Bhartpiir kept drawing his attention
beyond the Xarbadha, while a large force was sent against
the Sikh insurgents near Miiltan. His own troops began
to mutiny for want of regular pay from his failing treasury.
The Marathas in the meantime began to recover their lost
forts ; were ere long pouring into Malwa, and carrying fire
and sword through Gujarat. They hovered like flies
about the grand army which Aurangzib himself had once
more led against them ; they derided his very overtures
for peace ; and worse and ever worse shame and disaster
dogged his final retreat to Ahmadnagar, whence he had
L 2
148 mSTOBY OF INDIA.
marcbed out twenty years before in all the pomp and
glory of another Xerxes.
A few months later the aged emperor breathed his
last in the city which sheltered the wrecks of his beaten
army, after a reign of forty-nine, and a life of more than
eighty-eight years. To the last he seems to have retained
all tiie mental and much of the bodily vigour which
marked his prime, and won him a foremost place among
the princes of his own dynasty. His close attention to
the smallest details of government may have been sharpened
by his habitual distrust of all around him ; but, in spite of
the evils caused by his suspicious temper and narrow
religious zeal, his people on the whole were well governed
and lightly taxed.* One of his edicts forbade the raising of
the land-rents on those who had improved their farms at
their own expense. In anything that concerned the
public welfare, from the tillage of the soil to the daily
hearing of causes in the Hall of Audience, from the ap-
pointment of a clerk to the supervision of a great province,
he displayed a keen and enlightened interest. His sense
of justice failed him only when bigotry or personal am-
bition clouded his mental view. Merciless to his be-
trayed or defeated brethren, he pardoned and employed
their followers, set his face as a rule against savage or
severe punishments, and dealt mildly with all offences that
touched neither his power nor his reHgion.
Of courtly manners, great personal courage, varied
accomplishments, and some military skill, Aurangzib failed
to win the love of his own children, or the zealous co-
* His revenue from all sources has been reckoned, wkh seeming
accuracy, at seventy to eighty millions sterling, at the rate of t^yo
shillings the rupee. His land-revenue alone amounted to thirty-four
and a-half millions nett, about double that of Akbar's latter years.
and twelve millions higher than that raised by Shah Jahan. His total
revenue exceeded that of Jahangi'r by about thirty millions. These
vast sums, equal then to about twice their present value, appear to
have been collected with little effort.
AUKANGZIB. 149
operation of his chief officers. Never was a prince of his
intellectual mark so often cheated or so badly served.*
His best-planned enterprises were marred by the fruits of
his fatally suspicious temper. Trusting no one, he was
trusted in his turn by none. His son Moazzim he kept in
prison for seven years. His favourite son, Akbar, joined
in succession the standards of his Rajput and Maratha
foes. Axiother son, Kambakhsh, was placed in arrest on
a groundless charge of plotting with the Marathas. His
ablest surviving general, Zulfikar Khan, was driven by his
worrying treatment to the verge of open rebeUion. Even
Prince Azim, best beloved of his sons after Akbar's de-
fection, saw only treachery in his father's earnest-seeming
efforts to retain his love.
Craft and cunning, indeed, were Anrangzib's favourite
weapons alike in the council and the field. " To succeed
by art," says one historian,} "threw honour upon him-
self; to subdue by power acquired to others fame." This
preference for crooked ways may even have gained strength
in such a nature from the undoubted warmth of his
religious zeal. Hypocrisy and devoutness often go to-
gether, and the true key to his conduct may be found, we
think, in the bigotry which brought Prince Dara to a cruel
end. which estranged the hearts of the emperor's Hindu
subjects, sanctioned the use of treachery agumst foes of a
different creed, and blinded him to the fatal folly of crush-
ing the old Mohammadan princes of the Dakhan instead
of helping them to put down the rising Maratha power. J
• Elphinstone's " India," book xi chap. 4.
t Don-'s " Hindostan," vol. iii.
J The kings of Bijdpur and Golkonda belonged, Like the Persians,
to the Shid sect of Mohammadans, who acknowledge and almost
worship Ali as the tme encceesor to his father-in-law Mahomet in the
leadership of the faithful, and as the first of the twelve Imams or Pontiffs
of his line. Anrangzib, like his forefathers and the bnlk of Indian Mus-
sulmans in these days, was a Sunni Mohammadan, one of those who
ignore All's murdered son Hose'n as a tme Khah'f. To this sect belong
the Turks of the Turkish Empire.
150 mSTOBY OF INDIA.
A scholar and a poet, he banished poets from his court,
abolished the office of royal historiographer, issued edicts
against music and dancing, and turned every singer and
musician out of the palace precincts. If his private monds
were in keeping with the austere bent of his religious
habits, he succeeded in uprooting the last traces of that
wise and generous policy on which Akbar had sought to
lay fast the foundations of the Moghal rule. If he neither
drank, gambled, nor dallied with other than his lawl'ul
wives, he restored the old lunar year of the Moham-
madans, maddened the Hindus with all kinds of petty
persecutions, placed new weapons in the hands of his
llaratha foes, and paved the way for the disruption of
that broad empire which his own arms had helped to
build up.
Two years after Aurangzib's accession Charles 11.
mounted the throne of England. Among his first acts
was the granting of a charter to the united East India
Company, empowering them to make peace and war with
the natives of India, to administer justice, and to expel
interlopers from their ground. A year later, in 1662, the
island of Bombay, with its noble harbour, formed part of
the dowi-y which the Princess Catherine of Braganza
brought over to her EngHsh husband. After six years of
profitless possession Charles II. transferred the island to
the East India Company, under whose sway it was destined
to become the fitting capital of Western India, and the
seat of a trade exceeding thirty milliong sterling. In 1676
the Company were allowed to set up a mint in their new
possession, which had already been successfully defended
against the Dutch. Nine years afterwards it displaced
Surat as their chief station in the East Indies and the
seat of the Western Presidency. In 1686 the President
of Bombay was declared Governor- General of India. By
that time ships of all nations had begun to anchor in the
harbour of his new capital, and the Company's Indian
AURANGZIB. 151
trade bad risen to a hundred laklis of nipees, or more
than a milHon sterling.
Meanwhile, in Bengal things had not gone smoothly
between the English and the Moghals. With the French,
Dutch, and Danish factories on the Hiighli, the English
agents had no cause of quarrel. But the alleged exactions
of the Moghals, and their Viceroy'B refusal to let the
English Company's servants fortify the mouth of the
Hiighli against interlopers from England, provoked or
became the pretext for a hostile movement against the
masters of Bengal. In 168G an English fleet sailed up
the Hughli, on its way to Chittagong. A quarrel between
some English soldiers and the native police brought on a
regular engagement, in which the natives were worsted.
The Enghsh admiral opened fire on the town of Hughli.
An attempt to treat on the part of the Nawab of Bengal
came to nothing. At last Job Chamook, the chief of the
English factory, withdrew to Chatanatti, the future site of
the city which has since become the chief seat of the
English power in India.
Followed thither by the Nawab's army, Chamock led
his followers to the swamps of Hijali, an island at the
mouth of the Hughli. Here in the next few months half
of his little garrison had perished from disease, and the
rest were far on the road to a like issue, when matters
began to take a more hopeful turn. Chamock was allowed
to re-enter Chatanatti, and peace was all but re-established
on the old footing ; but Captain Heath, who had just
arrived with a fresh fleet from England, disallowed the
treaty, and Charnock, with all his countrjTnen in Bengal,
sailed down the Hughli for Madras. On its way thither
the English fleet bombarded Balasor, and tried in vain to
effect a landing at Chittagong.
Meanwhile, on the western side of India the Company
had not gained much by the aggressive policy which its
chairman, Sk Josiah Child, thought fit to pursue. The
152 HISTORY OP IKDIA.
seizure of pilgrim ships on their way to Mecca was requited
by the capture of the English factory at Surat, by a par-
tially successful attack upon Bombay, and by the expulsion
of the English from nearly all their settlements in Southern
India. At last, in 1690, the Governor of Bombay was
glad to renew the peace so rashly broken. His envoys
returned from Bijapiir with concessions easily granted by
an emperor fully alive to the benefits of a growing trade
with the foreigner ; and Charnock once more sailed up
the Hughli to hoist his country's flag in the httle hamlet
of Chatanatti.
In 1695, three years after the death of Charnock,* his
successor bought from the Moghals the three villages
of Chatanatti, Govindpiir, and Calcutta, out of which the
modem Calcutta was to arise. To fortify their new pos-
session was now the first thought of its owners, whose
dreams of empire had already begun to mould their general
policy, and whose agents had some years before been
exhorted to look after the increase of then- revenue at
least as carefully as the growth of their trade, t It was
not long before their wish was gratified. During the
height of a rebellion led by one of the old Pathan chiefs of
Orissa, the French, Dutch, and English merchants on the
Hughli got leave from the hard-pressed governor of
Bengal to put their several factories in a state of defence.
Fortified works sprang up accordingly ai-ound the new
settlement of Calcutta, and the flag of England was soon
floating above the ramparts of Fort William, so called in
honour of WiUiam III.
* He was buried at Barrackpore, which the natives still call after
him " Achanak."
t " The increase of our revenue," wrote the Directors in 1689, "is the
subject of our care as much as our trade; 'tis that must maintain our
force when twenty accidents may interrupt our trade ; 'tis that must
make us a nation in India ; without that we are but as a great number
of interlopers, united by His Majesty's charter, fit only to trade where
nobody of power thinks it their interest to oppose us."
AUBANGZIB. 153
In the second year of the 18th century, another success
— if the triumph of a monopoly may he so considered —
befel the Company in its contest with younger rivals.
For years past a host of " interlopers," hcensed and un-
licensed, had vexed the souls of the old chartered mer-
chants by glutting the home markets yriih goods not
seldom won by deeds of sheer piracy. The agents of
rival companies intrigued against each other at home and
abroad, their quarrels sometimes bursting into open war-
fare, while pirates like Captain Kidd* preyed impartially
on aU ships coming from India. At length the mfluence
of the oldest company prevailed with the EngUsh Pailia-
ment to put an end to a rivalry so fraught with evU or
unpleasant issues. In 1702 the chief of the rival com-
panies were joined by royal charter into one " United
Company of Merchants trading to the East." A few years
later Calcutta itself, imder the name of Fort WiUiam,
became the seat of a new presidency. At this time, and
for many years afterwards, the Company's servants, from
the president to the lowest clerk, were free to eke out
their small salaries with the profits which could then be
gleaned from theu- private trade ; profits so handsome, that
ere long even the junior servants could sit down to dinner
with music playing, and ride out in a carriage and four.t
* WUliam Kidd, by birth a New-Yorker, had been sent out by
"William III. to cruise against pirates ; but ere long ttirned pirate him-
self. At last he was captured, tried in England for murder, and
hanged.
t The president's salary was then fixed at £300 a-year, while his
eight members of council drew £40, the junior merchants £30, the
factors £15, and the writers £5 a-year.
154
CHAPTER Vn.
SUCCESSORS OF AURANGZIB 1707-1740.
In the will he left behind him, Aurangzib had assigned
the northern half of his wide dominions to his eldest son,
Moazzim, with the title of emperor, and DehH for his
capital. Of the remainder, Azim was to rule from Agra
aU but the kingdoms of Bijapiir and Golkonda, which were
reserved for Kambakhsh. Prince Azim, however, took
advantage of his brother's absence in Kabul to assume
the sovereignty of aU India. But it was not long before
his pretensions and his life were put out together in a
bloody battle fought near Agra between him and Prince
Moazzim. The subsequent defeat and death of his youngest
brother, Kambakhsh, freed Moazzim from all present
rivals, and left him, in fact as well as name, sole head of
the Moghal empire, under the title of Bahadur Shah.
In the last-named victory, won at Haidaxabad, a body
of Marathas fought on the conqueror's side, in fulfilment
of a pledge obtained from Saho, Sambaji's lineal heir, on
his release from the long, if mild, captivity enforced by
the politic Aurangzib. Saho's gratitude to the Moghals
seems to have survived the fall of Prince Azim, who had
been first to set him free. At any rate, he transferred his
services to Bahadur Shah, whose help enabled him to set
up at Sat;ira a rival sway to that of the regent Tara Bhui.
A further treaty empowered him to receive the chauth in
the name of the new emperor, through the hands of
Moghal officers alone.
Freed from anxiety on the side of the Marathas, the
emperor turned his arms against the refractory princes of
SUCCESSORS OF AURAJJGZIB. 155
Manvar and Jaipur. Ere long, however, a new source of
trouble drew his attention away from Kajputana to Sirhind.
Granting the Rajput chiefs almost as easy terms as the
Rana of Udaipiir had won already, Bahadur Shah hastened
to check the growing boldness of the Sikhs, who, early in
the 17th century, had been driven by Moslem bigotry to
employ worldly weapons in aid of the rehgious movement
begun by Xanak more than a century before.* In the
days of Guru Govind, the tenth high priest in succession
to Nanak, and grandson of Har Govind, who had taken np
arms to avenge his father's murder, the process of develop-
ment, so common in like cases, from a body of rehgious
reformers into a nation of armed fanatics had well-nigh
become complete. From the highlands of the Panjab the
Sikh wan-iors issued to try their strength anew against
their Mohammadan persecutors, but in vain. After a
long struggle with Aurangzib's soldiers. Gum Govind
became a lonely wanderer in the Dakhan, and fell at last
by the hand of a private foe near the monastery he had
founded at Nander.
To his old followers, however, remained a legacy of
hatred and revenge, which a new leader, named Bandu,
turned ere long to memorable account. Once more the
Sikhs broke out from their highland shelter, to ravage
Sirhind with fire and sword, and to repay, in the slaughter
of mullahs and the destruction of mosques, the wrongs
and insults which they and their fathers had suffered at
Moslem hands. At length the emperor himself went forth
to confront the danger which his officers on the spot had
failed to put down. The Sikhs were driven back into the
bills, and Bandu himself had a narrow escape from cap-
ture in the stronghold whose fall, after a brave resistance,
closed for that year a bootless struggle against overpower-
ing odds.
A few months afterwards the emperor himself died at
* See book i, chap. 2
156 HISTORY OF INDU.
Labor, in the fifth year of his reign and the seventieth of
his age. With him the glory of the house of Babar may
be said to have departed. A fight for empire between his
sons ended in the triumph of the eldest, Jahiindar Shah,
a worthless debauchee, who began by slaying all his
nearest kinsmen, and, after six months of costly dalliance
with fiddlers and mistresses, perished in his turn at the
hands of his nephew, Farokhsir. Installed as emperor at
Dehh by the arms of two Saiyid* brothers, Hosen Ali and
Abdullah Khan, that nephew began his reign with the
murder of Aurangzib's great general, Zulfikar Khan, the
last emperor's able but overweening vizier.
After a few more murders, Farokhsir proceeded to abet
some new favourites in plotting mischief against his Saiyid
benefactors. Ajit Singh, the Rajah of Marwar, was secretly
encouraged to hold out to the last against Hosen Ali, who
had been sent to subdue him. This plot baffled by the
Rajah's timely acceptance of the peace oflered by his oppo-
nent on liberal terms, the emperor next schemed to get
rid of his powerful servant by making him viceroy of the
Dakhan, in the room of Daiid Khan. The latter, too faith-
fully obeying his secret ordere fi-om Dehh, fell fighting at
the head of his troops on the field which they for a
moment had nearly won.
The same arts were employed by the emperor in the
war which Hosen Ah had to take up against the Marathas.
Once more, however, the wary Saiyid trumped his master's
hand by concluding peace with Rajah Saho and his able
minister, Btilaji Vishwanath — a peace which left them
masters of all Sivaji's former conquests in Southern
India, and acknowledged the Maratha claim to chauth
upon the whole of the Dakhan. Saho's rival, Sambaji,
the son of Tara Bhai, was also acknowledged as Rajah of
Kolapiir. For these concessions, Saho agreed to pay a
* They were sprung from a family of descendants of Mahomet who
bad settled in the town of Bara.
SUCCESSOES OF AURANGZIB. 157
yearly tribute, and to furnish for the emperor's service a
body of 15,000 horse.
Meanwhile Bandu, the Sikh leader, had once more led
his armed fanatics into the plains between the Satlaj and
the Jamna. In the midst, however, of their destroying
career, they were checked, routed, scattered, hunted down
by the victorious Moghals. Hundreds of their leading
men were borne in triumph through the streets of Dehli,
to the place where each in turn was beheaded, scorning to
save his life by changing his creed. Bandu himself, after
seeing his own child butchered before his eyes, was torn
to pieces with hot pincers, exulting in the midst of his
tortures at the vengeance which heaven at his hands had
wreaked upon the wicked.
Unwarned by past failures, Farokhsir renewed his plot-
tings against the Saiyids, one of whom, Abdullah, held
the post of grand vizier. Some of his chief nobles would
gladly have helped him to get rid of the two men whose
greatness echpsed their own ; but the emperor's wavering
pohey broke up the league, and while he was yet dallying
with a new favourite, Hosen Ali, with 10,000 Maratha
horse, marched up from the Dakhan to his brother's
rescue. The frightened emperor soon found himself at
the mercy of men who had small reason to show him any.
A tumult in the streets of Dehli sealed his fate. Dragged
from his hiding-place to a prison, he was ere long put to
death ; two of his young kinsmen, raised in turn to the
throne, died of consumption in the com'se of a few months ;
but at last a healthier successor turned up in Prince Eoshan
Akhtar, who took the name of Mohammad Shah.
The new reign began stormily. Kisings in Allahabad,
the Panjab, and elsewhere, might be quelled with small
trouble by force or cunning ; Chin Kilich Khan, the
future Nizam of the Dakhan, was not so easily put down.
Of a good Turkish family, the son of a favourite oiBcer of
Am-angzib, he himself had risen under the same emperor
158 HISTORY OF 1.ND1A.
to bigh military command in the Daklian, with the dis-
tinctive titles of Asof Jah and Nizam-ul-Mulk. As go-
vernor of the Dakhan for a few months after the death of
Zultikar Khan, he held the Marathas in check until Hosen
Ali came to supplant him. Transferred to the gOTernment
of Malwa, Chin Kilich waited for the moment when his
turn might come to triumph over the hateful Saiyid pair,
whose influence at court still worked unfavourably for bis
own ambitious ends.
It was not long that be bad to wait. By the middle of
1720 he had crossed the Narbadha, planted bis standard
on the fort of Asirghar, and defeated an army sent against
him near Burhanpiir. Another victory at Ballapur in Berar
brought Hosiin Ali himself into the field. On his march
southwards, however, the Saiyid fell by an assassin's dag-
ger ; his brother Abdullah, defeated in battle by the
emperor be sought to dethrone, remained a prisoner in
the hands of Mohammad Shah ; and ere long Chin Kilich
Khan, already master of the Dakhan, re-entered Dehli as
vizier.
But the pleasure-loving emperor and his dissolute friends
soon tired of the company of the grave old statesman to
whom they chiefly owed their deliverance from the Saivid
yoke. They sent him to displace the governor of Gujarat,
who forthwith took up arms in bis own defence. Chin
Kihch put down the rebellion and added Gujarat also to
his rule. His return to DehH exposed him to fresh em-
broilments with the court. At length he threw up his
post and retired to the Dakhan, where Mobariz Khan,
governor of Haidarabad, was secretly encouraged to with-
stand him. Once more the arts of the Dehli cabal were
foiled by the defeat and death of their new tool ; and their
intended victim was free to fix at Haidarabad the seat
of a sovereignty which bis successors have wielded to this
hour. It is true that he covered the seizure of indepen-
dent power by occasional gifts to bis lord paramount ;
SUCCESSORS OF AURANGZIB. 159
but the dismemberment of the empire had akeady
begim.
It began indeed three years earlier, when Ajit Singh,
the Kana of Mai'war or Jodpur, made up for his expul-
sion from Gujarat by wresting the Rajput province of
Ajmir from the Moghals. If the Jats of Bhartpiir were
once more quelled by the loyal Rajah Jai Singh of Amber,
more worthily remembered for his great love of science
than for his success as a niler,* theMarathas were already
gaining ground in Malwa and Gujarat. On the death of
King Siiho's able Peshwa, Balaji Vishwanath, in 1720,
the sceptre he had wielded in the name of his puppet
sovereign passed into the strong hands of his yet abler
son, Baji Rao. With a keen eye for the inward weakness
of the Moghal empu-e, the new Peshwa soon carried the
Maratha arms across the Nai'badha. " Let us strike,"
he said, " the withered trunk, and the branches wlU fall
of themselves." His troops ravaged Malwa and levied
chauth in Gujarat. Chin IvQich Khan himself bad to back
out of his craftily planned alliance with the rival Maratha
house of Kolapiir. The head of that house. Samba, was
forced to acknowledge Saho's right to all the Maratha
country except that which immediately surrounded his
own capital. A great Maratha chief, Dabari, who took
up arms to depose the Peshwa, was himself defeated and
slain by his skilful opponent, and Gujarat itself lay help-
less at- the conqueror's feet. Pilaji Gaikwar, whose de-
scendants still reign at Baroda, was set to govern the
conquered province in the name of Dabari's infant son.
Two of Biiji Rao's lieutenants, Malhar Rao Holkar and
Ranaji Sindia, founders of still existing dynasties at Indor
and Gwalior, were already engaged in the work of wrest-
* Jai Singh, Rajah of Dhundar, a descendant of Akbar's friend and
Jahangir's father-in-law, Bhagwandaa, was the greatest Hindu asti'o-
nomer since Aryabhata. He erected observatories at Dehli, Mattra,
Banaras, Ujain, and Jaipur, his new capital, fomided by him in 1728.
From him is descended the present dynasty of Jaipur.
160 HISTORY OF INDIA.
ing Miilwa from the Moghals. In vain did the wily master
of Haidarabad renew his old intrigues against his formid-
able neighbours. Loyalty to a tottering throne, filled by
an ungrateful sovereign, formed no part of his political
creed, nor bad old age diminished his habitual caution. A
compact formed between him and the Marathas in 1731
left the latter free to push their conquests north of the
Narbadha, so long as they forbore from harrying the sub-
jects of the Nizam-ul-Mulk.
The murder of PUaji Gaikwar by the patricide son of
Ajit Singh brought fresh swarms of Marathas into Gujarat.
Driven out of the province he had hoped to reconquer for
the Moghals, Abhi Singh, the murderer, retired into his
own country. Ere long Malwa also was quietly surren-
dered by its governor, Jai Singh, into the hands of Saho's
Peshwa. Grateful for help received from that quarter, the
Rajah of Bundalkhand had meanwhile placed the Marathas
in possession of his own domains around Jliansi, on the
Jamna.
StOl hungering for fresh conquests, the daring Brahman
kept making fresh demands on the emperor, who for some
time could see no escape from further aminyance save in
concessions which only whetted the greed of his insatiable
foes. At length Chin Kilich, repenting of his recent
quietude, came forward to the rescue of his nominal
master; while Sadat Khan, the Persian nawab or governor
of Audh, marched forth to defend the empire on its north-
eastern side. In spite of the check which Holkar's hght
horse received from the Nawab on their raid towards Agra,
Baji Rao determined to show the emperor that he was still
in Hindustan. Passing round the flank of a Moghal army
encamped near Mattra, his swift-moving squadrons suddenly
appeared before the gates of Dehli itself. After plundering
the suburbs, beating back a sally fi'om the city walls, and
filhng the citizens with utter dismay, they rode off again
for the Daklian, laden with rich spoils, before Chin
SUCCESSORS OF AURANGZIB. 161
Kilich, the emperor's new vizier, had time to intercept
them.
In the first days of the next year the aged ruler of the
Dakhan, at the head of the strong and well-appointed
army which he had led forth from Dehli, awaited near
Bopal, on the Malwa border, the approach of Baji Kao.
But in the course of a few weeks his own position in the
midst of active foes, who laid waste the country, cut off
his suppUes, and assailed his outposts, became so perilous,
that he could neither advance nor reti'eat without heavy
loss. Attempting the latter alternative, he was soon com-
pelled to save himself from worse misfortunes by a treaty
which assigned to the Peshwa the whole of the country
between the Cbambal and the Narbadha, besides pledging
the emperor to the payment of fifty lakhs of rupees, or
half-a-milHon sterling of our money.
But a yet more cruel blow was now impending over the
Moghal power. In 1722 Hosen Shah, the last of the
Safavi kings of Persia, laid his crown at the feet of
Mahmud, the Khilji chief of Kandahar, whose victorious
Afghans had for sis months been closely besieging the
Persian monarch in his own capital of Isfahan. On the
death of Mahmud two years afterwards, the crown thus won
by him at the sword's point devolved upon his nephew Ash-
raf, whose wars with the Turks and Kussians were followed
by a sharper struggle with an enemy nearer home. His new
assailant. Nadir Kiili, was the son of a Turkish shepherd
in Khorasan. Beginning, like Sivaji, as a robber chief, he
won his way to the leadership of an army which delivered his
native country from the AbdaJi Afghans, drove Ashi-af out
of Isfahan, fought successfully against the Turks, and set
Tahmasp, the exiled son of Hosen, upon his father's throne.
Ere long, however, the new king had to make way for
his abler protector, who began his reign by conquering
Afghanistan. The internal weakness of the Moghal empire
then tiu'ned his thoughts to the country beyond the Indus ;
M
162 HI3T0BY OF INDIA.
and a joint letter * from Chin Kilich and Siidat Khan is
said by the native chroniclers to have spurred him on
to the cheap and alluring task of heightening his own
renown by the plunder of a defenceless people. On one
plea or another he set forth from Kabul in the autumn of
1738, passed safely through the mountains that barred
his way, crossed the Indus, and easily defeated near
Karnal the troops which Mohammad Shah had hastily
brought up from Dchli to withstand him. Betrayed by
his own officers, the luckless emperor sued in person for
such mercy as the conqueror might deign to show. In the
conqueror's train he returned to his own capital to collect
the ransom which Nadir Shah was willing to accept.
But the worst for him and his people was yet to come.
Two days after his return to Dehli, the rumoured death of
his conqueror roused the citizens to sudden furj-. They
fell upon the few thousand Persian troops scattered about
the city. The cowardly nobles made no attempt to stay
the slaughter of those whom they had shrunk from facing
in the field. Nadir Shah himself became a mark for
stones and bullets as he rode next morning through the
streets where lay the bodies of his murdered followers.
One of his favourite officers fell dead by his side. Pro-
voked beyond bearing by this last blow, he let loose his
impatient soldiers on the raging crowd. In the next few
hours the massacres of Timur's day were renewed within
hearing, if not under the eyes, of Dehh's new master. Thirty
thousand people are supposed to have perished, before Nadir
Shah, moved perhaps by the emperor's humble entreaties, t
ordered his obedient warriors to hold their hands.
* Elphinstone doubts the truth of this ston-, which Mr. Keene, on
the contrary, believes (Keene's '■ Moghul Empire," p. 36).
t According to Dow, Mohammad Shah himself, followed by his chief
nobles, entered the Mosque of Roshan-ud-daula, in the Chandni Chauk,
the Regent Street of Dehli, where Nadir was sitting in gloomy silence,
and with tears besought him to spare the Emperor's subjects ; where-
upon he stopped the massacre.
SUCCESSORS OF ADRANGZIB. 1G3
It remained to continue the work of spoliation already
begun. Every man of the least wealth or mark in the
city, from the emperor and his nobles down to the smaller
t:-adesmen, had to contribute his share to the general
ransom. Every bouse was ransacked for hidden treasure.
Torture was emploj'ed in aid of threats. Numbers of the
people died of ill-usage or slew themselves to avoid it.
Among the latter appears to have been the traitor Sadat
Ivhan himseh'.* The native officers who had to collect the
plunder filled their own pockets with untold sums at the
cost of their helpless countrymen. Heavy fines were also
drawn from the provinces. After two months employed
on a quest so fruitful, the Persian conqueror marched out
of Dehli laden with treasure in coin, jewels, and goods,
whose value may have amounted to thirty crores of rupees,
or more than thirty millions of our money. Conspicuous
among his plunder was the famous peacock throne of Shah
Jah;m, the chiefest jewels in which were, more than a cen-
tury after, to become the prize of a power at that time
owning but a few square miles of Indian ground.
A year after Nadir's return homewards, Baji Rao died
in the midst of fresh plans for pursuing the work inter-
rupted by the Persian monarch. Besides his northern
forays, he had for some time past been engaged in warfare
with the Portuguese, with the Sidis or Abyssinians of
Jinjera, and with Angria, the pii-ate lord of Kolaba, near
Bombay. The Portuguese his brother Chimnaji drove out
of Salsette, Bassein, and other places in the Kankan ; but
the Sidis fought him on pretty equal terms, and the war
with Angria, in spite of English aid, lingered on after the
* The story which Elphinstone quotes only to reject, is that Nadir
sent for Chin Kilich and Sadat Khan, and reviling them for their
treachery to their king, spat on their beards : a disgrace which only
death could wipe out. Chi'n Kilich made a show of poisoning himself,
and yddat, deceived by his clever acting, took real poison and died.
Whether the story be a myth or no, however, Sidat certainly killed
himself on account of Nadir's behaviour towards him.
u 2
ini msTOEY OF rsniA.
Pesliwa's death. Nor had Baji Rao succeeded in his latest
essay against the Dakhan, where Chin Kilich's brave son,
Nasir Jang, had vigorously upheld the cause of his absent
father. On the whole, however, in spite of partial failures
abroad and dissensions among his own countrymen, the
deceased Pt^shwa's daring policy had raised the Maratha
power to a height whence nothing but the incurable folly
of his successors could afterwards bring it down.
165
CHAPTEK VIII.
THE MOGHAL EMPIBE TO THE BATTLE OF pInIPAT.
Besides the plunder of a populous city and a broad province,
Nadir Shah annexed the whole of the Moghal dominions in
Kabul, Sindh, and the Panjab within the Indus. To the
Moghal emperor he left a dishonoured crown, an empty
treasury, and the wrecks of an empire already breaking to
pieces. The closing years of Mohammad's reign were
years of growing disorder, of ever-darkening prospects for
the House of Babar. Mohammad's court was rent with
factions and filled with intrigues. Province after province
flipped out of his feeble grasp. The princes of Rajputana
disowned their allegiance with impunity. The Maratha
Gaikwar reigned in Gujarat. A bold adventurer, Mohabat
Jang, best known as Ahvardi Khan, had bribed the Court
of DehU to sanction his seizure of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa.
Safdar Jang, the son of Sadat Khan, governed Audh as
the equal rather than the servant of his Hege lord. In
Southern India remained not a foot of ground which the
emperor could henceforth call his o\\'n, if his nominal lieges
chose to deny the claim.
The very quarrels of Maratha leaders brought him no
advantage. In return for help received from Balaji Rao,
son and successor of the last Peshwa, against the daring
raids of his rival Raguji Bhosla from Berar into Bengal,
the emperor was fain to grant him fuU possession of
Malwa as a hereditary fief. A few months afterwards
Balaji gave a new impulse to his countrymen's greed for
IGG HISTORY OF INDU.
plunder and conquest by granting his late opponent the
right to levy chauth on Bengal and Bahar, if not on pro-
vinces yet further north. Thus fi'ee to push his own
fortunes, Raguji carried his arms and ravages into the
heart of Bengal, to such purpose that neither the skill nor
the soldiership of AUvardi Khan could long hold out
against Maratha energy, backed by a mutiny among his
best soldiers, a body of Afghans under Mustafa Ivhan.
The treacherous murder of Baskar Pandit, the ilaratha
general, by the Moghal Viceroy himself, was requited six
years later by the cession to Raguji of half Orisia, and a
promise to pay chauth for Bengal.
If Alivardi had looked for help to the aged Viceroy tf
the Dakhan, he had looked in vain. After leaving his
eldest son Ghazi-ud-din as Vizier at Dehli, Chin Kilich
on his retm-n to Haidarabad had been for some time engaged
in suppressing the revolt of nis son Nasir Jang. That
misguided prince brought to his senses in 1742, his
father's attention had nest been called to the Camatic,
which one of Raguji's officers, Morari Rao, was employed
in wresting from its Moghal Nawab. The old Tartar's
presence at the head of a large army brought the Marathas
to a timely compromise ; Morari Rao retaining Giiti and
some other districts, while the rest of the country was
shared between Chin Kilich's grandson, Mozati'ar Jang,
and his faithful servant Anwar-ud-din. In 1718 Chin
liihch himself, the wily and ambitious Nizam-ul-Mulk,
died at Burhanpiir at the age of seventy-seven ; and his
sons in the midst of their own quarrels could pay little
heed to the affairs of remote Bengal.*
His death followed but a few weeks after that of
Mohammad Shah himself, whose path had latterly been
cheered by a victory gained over Afghan insurgents in
* According to entne accounts, Chin Kilich died at the fabulous-
seeming age of a hundi-ed and four. Elphinstone's estimate, however,
is probably much nearer the maik.
THE MOGHAL EMPIRE TO THE BATTLE OF PAXIPAT. 167
Roliilkhand,* and later still by his son Ahmad's defeat of
Ahmad Khan, the formidable leader of a new invasion
from Kandahar. An Abdali Afghan, sprung from the sacred
Saddozai branch of his tribe, Ahmad Khan had no sooner
fought his way to the headship of the Afghan race and the
mastery of Sindh, than he prepared to lead a small but
resolute army across the Panjab into Upper Hindustan.
His skilful strategy baffled all attempts to oppose him
until, in March 1748, his soldiers found the Moghals under
Prince Ahmad strongly entrenched near the city of Sirhind.
A series of hard fights, continued for ten days, ended in
the Abdah's repulse with heavy slaughter ; and Dehli for
a few years longer was saved from further suffering.
A month after his victory Prince Ahmad mounted his
father's throne, with Safdar Jang of Audh for his vizier.
It was not long before the latter, unable to cope by him-
self with a new Rohilla rising on a formidable scale, ap-
pealed for aid to the Jats and Marathas in the provinces
skirting the right bank of the Jamna. With their help the
invaders were driven back into Rohilkhand ; but this suc-
cess was more than balanced by a Moghal defeat in Mar-
war, and by the conquest of the Panjab by Ahmad Shah
the Abdali, or, as he now styled himself^ the Durani, king
of Afghanistan. The defeat of the RohiUas moreover
placed new weapons of attack in the hands of Sindia and
HoLkar, who were free to ravage Rohilkhand under the
cloak of levying their favourite black-mail.
Yet darker troubles awaited the luckless emperor. The
streets of DehU became the scene of a civU war between
the vizier and his new rival Ghazi-ud-din, grandson of
Chin Ehch and son of the late vizier. For sis months
the battle-cries of Persian and Moghal, Shia and Sunni,
resounded through the city. Holkar and his Marathas
• The Eohfllas were a colony of Yusufzai and other Afghan tribes,
which had lately conquered the country east of the Ganges, froui
Audh up to the Himalayas.
1G8 HISTORY OF INDIA.
fought for the Moghal leader agamst their Hindu country-
mon the Jiits, whose Rajah, Suraj Mai, had espoused the
cause of Safdar Jang. At length the latter withdrew from
a fruitless struggle into his own province beyond the
Ganges. The emperor, however, soon wearied of the
burden he had brought upon his own shoulders, when he
plotted with the youthful grandson of Chin Kilich against
the murderer of his favourite eunuch. In the midst of
an effort to shake off his new tyrant, he fell into the hands
of Ghazi-ud-din himself, who straightway put out his eyes,
and set up as emperor in his stead a son of Jahandar
Shah, under the title of Alamgir II.
Meanwhile the new Maratha Peshwa, Bulaji Rao, had
been steadily building up the fabric of Maratha power
with the mingled boldness, cunning, and perseverance of
his caste and family. la 1749, the long reign of Rajah
Saho, the grandson of Sivaji, the prisoner of Aurangzib,
the patron or the puppet of three successive Peshwas,
came to an end ; and Rajah Ram 11., grandson, real or
pretended, of his dead namesake and the stiU living Tara
Bhai, was installed as puppet sovereign in his place.
While the titular heir of Sivaji held at Satara his phantom
court, the Peshwa himself at Pima wielded the virtual
sovereignty of aU Maharashtra, and his orders were obeyed
alike by Sindia on the Chambal and by Raguji Bhosla
beyond the Kistna.
In spite of the intrigues of Tm-a Bhai, the turbulence of
his cousin Sedasheo Bhao, and the part he himself played
in the affairs of the Dakhan, Biilaji Rao, with equal
courage, skill, and good fortune, held his triumphant way
through aU snares and over all hindrances, until, by the
time of Ahmad Shah's deposition, he had made the
Maratha name a terror or a beacon throughout all India.
In the fatal strife for power between the sons of Chin
Kilich, he conti'ived not only to baffle Salabat Jang and
his French ally, Bussy, but to obtain the cession of West
THE MOGH.U, EMPIRE TO THE BATTLE OF PANIPAT. 169
P.erar from Salabat's eldest brother, Ghazi-ud-din. In
concert with the English Commodore James, his fleets in
1755 aided in capturing Angria's pii-ate stronghold of
Savandrug, which was forthwith made over to him in
exchange for his seaport town of Bankot." To him also
in the following year was transferred the old Maratha fort
and town of Giiiah, which the redoubtable Tiilaji Angria
had vainly defended against Admiral Watson and his col-
league Colonel Clive, aheady a soldier of mark in the
service of the East India Company.
A year earlier Balaji's brother Eagoba f had cleared
away the last relic of Moghal rule in Gujarat by the cap-
ture of the old Pathan city of Ahmadabad. Sharing the
rich spoils with his lieutenant, Damaji Gaikwar, the con-
queror carried his arms, and successfully asserted the
Maratha claim to chauth against the Hindu chiefs of
Rajputana and Bhartpiir. In 1751 his troops set forth
from Malwa on their way to Dehh at the prayer of the
ruffianly Ghazi-ud-din the younger.
That luckless city had just been taken and despoiled by
a second Nadir, in the person of Ahmad Shah, the Durani,
who had thus revenged himself for the Moghal vizier's re-
cent raid into Labor. No sooner had he turned his back
on Dehli, than Ghazi-ud-din besought the Marathas to aid
him in getting rid of Ahmad's deputy, the able and honest
Rohilla chief, Najib-ud-daula. Under the wing of his new
ally he re-entered Dehh in triumph, and Najib-ud-daula
retired northwards to his own domain near Saharanpur.
Emboldened by this success, Eagoba a few months after-
wards crossed the Satlaj, drove the Afghans out of the
Panjab, and set up a governor of his own choosing at
Labor. One of his generals overran Rohilkhand. To
crown all, his cousin " the Bhao," as Sedasheo Bhao was
* A town in the Ratnagiri district, sixty -eight miles south of
Bombay, at the mouth of the river Savitri.
t His proper name was Ragunath Rao.
170 HISTORY OF INDIA.
commonly called, was entering on a career of victory in
the Dakhan, which began with the taking of Ahmadnagar,
and ended in 17G0 with the conquest of half the country
ruled by Ghazi-ud-din's successor, Salabat Jang.
The Slaratha power had now reached its highest point.
From the Indus and the Himalayas down to the borders of
Travankor, Balaji levied the JIaratba black-mail, or ruled
the country through his own officers. The seed which
Sivaji had sown a century earlier had sprung up into a
noble tree, whose branches, like the banyan-tree of the
country, had struck fresh roots, until the single trunk had
multipUed into a mighty forest overshadowing the whole
peninsula, and threatening, as it grew, to kill off all rival
growths. While the Hindu genius for civil government
found free play in the countries which had been fairly
brought under the rule of Brahman Peshwas, the old
swarms of mounted freebooters had been strengthened or
replaced by regular armies of horse and foot, well paid,
fairly disciplined, and equipped with guns, not wholly
useless against ordinary foes.
But the shadow of a great disaster was already creeping
over the Peshwa's path. The pride that goes before de-
struction impelled his cousin, the Bhao, to supplant
Eagoba as Captain-General of the Maratha armies in
Hindustan. Meanwhile, a Maratha force in Rohilkhand
had been driven back across the Ganges by Shuja-ud-
dftula, the Nawab of Audh. Ahmad Shah, the Durani,
had once more issued from the Afghan hiUs to punish the
bold invaders of his son's domains in the Panjab, and to
drive the horsemen of Sindia and Holkar across the
Chambal. The murder of Alamgir, by order of the blood-
stained Gh;izi-ud-din, left Dehli without an emperor, but
failed to arrest for a moment the issues dreaded by his
murderer. Ahmad Shah marched on towards the Moghal
capital, and an Afghan garrison ere long held the city in his
name.
THE MOGHAL EMPIRE TO THE BATTLE OF P.OvIPAT. 171
The Marathas on their side were not idle. A mighty
gathering of Rajputs, Jats, and Marathas swept up the
country to complete the downfall of ilohammadan rule,
and drive the Durani across the Indus. Dehh itself was
taken and once more despoiled by the soldiers of the
Bhao, who would hardly wait to lead them against the
Afghans before proclaiming Bulaji's son, Wiswas Kao,
Emperor of Hindustan. Puffed up with his past successes
and an overweening self-conceit, the Maratha leader gave
no heed to the cautious counsels of his Jat ally, Suraj
Mai, but led forth his whole array of horse, foot, and guns,
to attack an army of about equal strength commanded by
the foremost general of his day.
The first hard blow in the coming strife for empire
between the Mohammadans and the Hindus was virtually
struck when Ahmad Shah plimged into the swollen
Jamna above Dehli, and by fording or swimming landed
his troops on the other side in the face of their astonished
foes. Entrenching himself on the ill-omened field of
Panipat, the Bhao awaited an attack from the foe he had
learned too late to value rightly. For two months the
armies which were to decide the fate of India lay near
each other, neither daring to move bodily out of its en-
trenchments, while outlying parties skirmished daily
together, and flying columns beat up each other's quarters,
cut off the enemy's convoys, or scoured the countiy for
supplies. It needed all Ah 111 ad's coolness and strength of
will to curb the impatience of his Moghal and Rohilla
officers, who were slow to see the wisdom of this long
delay. But the far-seeing Afghan bade them sleep in
peace, and trust all to a leader who knew what he was
doing. " I wUl take care," he said, " that no harm befalls
you," and he kept his word.*
• " His orders were obeyed like destiny," says the chronicler Kasi
Rai ; " no man daring to hesitate or delay one moment in executing
them.''
172 HISTORY OF INDIA.
At last the hour drew near when his patient watchful-
ness was to reap its due reward. Hemmed in on every
side, their supplies cut oflf, their host of followers already
starving, their huge camp reeking with the stench of dead
bodies and the accumulated filth and refuse of near three
hundred thousand souls, the Bhao's last eflorts to treat
with the double-dealing ruler of Audh frustrated by Shuja's
fears, and by the stern antagonism of the Rohilla chief Na-
jib-ud-daula, the whole Hindu army marched forth to battle
in the early morning of the 6th January, 17()1, with the
courage less of hope than of sheer despair. " The ends of
their turbans," Bays Grant Duff, " were let loose, their
hands and faces anointed with a preparation of turmeric,
signifying that they were come forth to die, and every-
thing seemed to bespeak the despondency of sacrifice pre-
pared instead of victoiy determined." On the side of
Ahmad Shah were about 40,000 Afghans and Persians,
mostly mounted, 13,000 Indian horse, and 38,000 Indian
foot, with thirty guns and many wall-pieces. Under the
Maratha flag were ranged some 50,000 splendid cavalry,
at least 15,000 u-regular horse, with an equal number of
foot, mostly trained in the Dakhan by a Mussulman de-
serter from the French service, and 200 guns, besides a
large number of wall-pieces. Both sides may also have
mustered a large contingent of wild volunteer horsemen,
whom the thirst for plunder and excitement had brought
into the field.*
The centre of the Maratha line was led by Sedasheo
Bhao himself, with whom rode his young kinsman, Wiswus
Rao, and several chiefs of note in the Dakhan wars.
Mahaji Sindia commanded the right wing, while the left,
under the Gaikwar, was strengthened by the 9,000 disci-
phned Sepoys whom Ibrahim Ivlian had brought up fi-om
the Dakhan. MaUiar Rao Holkar took post in the right
* The Pindaris, of evil fame, are recorded as flocking to the Maratha
standard.
THE MOGHAL EMPIRE TO THE BATTLE OF PANTPAT. 173
centre. For one leader no place was to be found ou that
memorable morning. Suraj Mai, with many thousand Jats
and Eajputs, had already retired in dudgeon to his own land.
Hardly had the Mai'iithas begun their forward march,
when the watchful Ahmad drew out his own array to meet
them. His Grand Vizier, Shah Walli, held the centre,
consisting chiefly of his own Afghans. On his right were
posted several Moghal and Rohilla chiefs, while the left
was entrusted to the brave Najib-ud-daula and the half-
hearted Nawiib of Audh. All day the battle raged with
varj-ing fortune. Ovei-powered by the steady onset of the
Dakhan Sepoys, the Afghan right gave way after a heavy
slaughter. In the centre the Bhao's Maratha and Rajput
horsemen swept like a vast thunder-cloud upon the Grand
Vizier's Dui'anis, and, in spite of Afghan prowess and the
Afghan leader's bold example, drove them back in disorder
on their reserves. On the Afghan left a more equal battle
was waged by Xajib's RohiUas against the troops of Sindia
and Holkar.
In vain did the Grand Vizier attempt by repeated
charges to retrieve the ruin that threatened his centi-e.
The Bhao, whose courage far outsti'ipped his generalship,
still led forward his famished warriors into the heart of the
hostile ranks. Round him and the hapless son of Balaji
the fight still raged with deadliest fury, and spears,
swords, and battle-axes drank their fill of blood. At that
moment of seeming defeat, Ahmad Shah by one supreme
eflbrt restored the fortunes of his hard-pressed troops.
While every Hindu soldier was already engaged, his own
reserves were stUl waiting the order to advance. Hurry-
ing off a part of these to aid in turning the enemy's right,
with the rest he rallied the fugitives from his own right
and centre, and renewed the battle on that side.
The double movement soon bore fruit. Afghans and
Rohillas reformed their broken lines, large bodies of fresh
horsemen thundered down upon the weary foe, and Najib'3
174
HISTORY OF INDIA.
reinforced warriors pushed buck until they had rolled up
the Manitha right. Still the fight raged under the hot
afternoon sun, until Wiswas Eao was seen to fall. Mad-
dened at the sight, or aware of coming doom, the Bhao
^ r ' » ^rri !^
plunged into the thickest of the fray ; Holkar, to whom ho
had last spoken, led his own troops from the field, as if all
were lost alread}' ; '^' the Gaikwar followed his example ;
* He is said to have had a secret understanding with Shuja-ud-
dania ; but this is very doubtful. It is more probable, as Sir J. Malcolm
thinks, that so good a soldier saw in a timely retreat the only hope
of saving his o^vn followers from the general wreck. In so doing he
maj only have obeyed the Bhao's last injunctions.
THE MOGHAL EMPIRE TO TUE BATTLE OF PANIPAT. 1 / 0
and presently the -whole of that great army was flying in
wild disorder from the swiftly advancing foe. The
slaughter that followed in a chase of many miles com-
pleted the horrors of that eventful day. No quarter was
asked or given. Of those who escaped the swords of their
pursuers, a great many were cut up by the villagers them-
selves, and many more were afterwards slain in cold blood
by their Dunini captors. Among these last were Jankoji
Sindia and the bi-ave Ibrahim Khan. The Bhao himself
had found the death he sought for in the field. It is
reckoned that only a fourth of the fighting men, and about
the same proportion of camp followers, survived that
fearful carnage. Thousands of women and children found
in the entrenched camp and in the town of Panipat, were
sold as slaves ; and the vengeance of the conquerors for
their own heavy losses was sated only when their victims
had drained the cup of sufiering to its last drop.
With the costly victory of Panipat the league of Mo-
hammadan princes against the common foe seems at once
to have broken up. Ahmad Shah himself recrossed the
Indus, leaving his late allies to settle their own afl'uirs in
their own way. If the Maratha power had received a
permanent check, the Moghal Empire was never again to
emerge from its late eclipse, although a nominal emperor
might still hold his shadowy court at Dehli, and powerful
princes were to ofl'er him mock allegiance for kingdoms
won by then' own swords. Throughout Maharashtra were
heard the sounds of wailing for the carnage of Panipat.
The Peshwa himself, who was marching towards Dehh,
broke up his camp, recrossed the Narbadha, and reached
Puna only to die, bequeathing to his successors a broken
sceptre and a losing struggle with a power already domi-
nant in Bengal. How that power had meanwhile been
advancing, the following chapter will show.
17G
CHAPTER IX.
THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN INDIA.
Foe many years after the death of Aurangzib the English
in Bengal continued to play the part of peaceful traders,
jealous of all rivals from the West, readj' to grasp at any
new concession which prayers, clamours, or timely services
might win from native rulers, and careful to hold aloof
from the wars that might rage around them. The good
fortune which enabled an English surgeon, Mr. Hamilton,
to cure the Emperor Farokhsir of an illness which had
baffled the skill of native Hakims, was requited, at Mr.
Hamilton's own request, by an oi'der exempting the Com-
pany's agents from all local charges on their merchandise,
and by another which empowered the Company to buy
over the lordship of thirty-eight ■\'illages near Calcutta.
The help which the English afterwards received from the
Viceroy, Shuja-ud-din, in their efforts to destroy the trade
of an interloping company established at Ostend, consoled
them for the dirt they had eaten under his unfriendlv pre-
decessor, Murshid Kuli lOian. During the troubles en-
gendered by Alivardi Ivhan's long struggle with the Mara-
tha invaders of Bengal, they obtained leave fi-om the Vice-
roy to surround their settlement of Calcutta with an
entrenchment afterwards known as " the Maratha Ditch."
On the opposite side of India, however, the English
were sometimes less peacefully employed in defending
their interests against the assaults of Maratha pirates, who
became a terror and a nuisance to all vessels trading with
the Kankan. The failure in 1722 of a joint attack bv the
THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN INDIA. 177
English and the Portuguese on Aiigria's stronghold of
Kolaba emboldened the pirates to fresh outrages ; and not
till more than thirty years after was the power of Angi-ia's
successors broken, by the combined attacks of EngUsh and
Maratha forces on the rock-perched fastnesses of the pu-ate
chiefs.
Meanwhile at Madras and in Southern India events bad
been happening which gave a new turn to the poUcy of
the East India directors. While France and England
were fighting at home, in India the merchants of either
country had long been wont to follow peacefully, side by
side, the business which took them so far away from
their own land. Calcutta and Chandanagor, Madras and
Pondicherry, were content to grow rich against each other,
instead of taking an unprofitable part in the wars between
the parent states. But in 1744, when France and Eng-
land were once more at open strife, the bold Labour-
donnais resolved, with the sanction of the French Govern-
ment, to fight his country's enemies in India also.* Re-
turning to the Isle of France, of which he was then
governor, he looked out in vain for the promised armament
from home. But his amazing energy overcame all draw-
backs. In one way or another he got together a fleet
manned with sailors whom he himself, a sailor by profes-
sion and something of an engineer, had trained for their
destined work. In July, 1746, after beating off an Eng-
lish squadron sent to intercept him, he anchored off
Pondicherry, took counsel with its able governor, M.
Dupleis, and set off again two months later for his long-
projected attack upon Madras.
On the 18th September his ships and land-batteries
began to bombard the fort, which Governor Morse with his
* A full and interesting account of this adventurer's brilliant career
in India and the Mauritius may be found in Colonel Malleson's
'■ History of the French in India." During his rule, from 1735 to 1745,
the Mauritius, or Isle of France, grew out of a wilderness into a
flourishing colony.
N
178 HISTORY OF INIiIA.
three hundred Englishmen, of whom two-thirds only were
soldiers, made a feeble show of holding out. Three days
afterwards the garrison surrendered as prisoners of war for
the time being, with the power of redeeming the captured
settlement after a specified term on payment of nearly half
a miOion sterling. A large amount of booty fell at once
into the conquerors' hands, besides the handsome present
of £40,000 reserved by the governor for Labourdonnais
himself.
The convention, however, displeased Dupleix, who
found several reasons, including the powers entrusted to
himself as Governor-General of French India, for after-
wards setting it aside. In the midst of an embittered
squabble between two men who, working together, might
have driven the English out of India, a fearful storm so
shattered the fleet of Labourdonnais, that he set sail from
Madras, leaving the treaty he had just signed with the
English Governor to be kept or broken at pleasure by
Dupleix.*
Thus freed from a troublesome rival, Dupleis had now
to deal with a new opponent in the shape of Anwar-ud-din,
the Nawiib or Governor of the Carnatic.t who sent troops
to enforce fulfilment of the Frenchman's promise to sur-
render Madras into his hands. If Dupleix had ever thought
of keeping his pledge, he was now bent on keeping the
fortified place instead. In vain did ten thousand of the
Nawab's warriors encamp around Madras, in hopes of
punishing the insolent strangers who had cheated him out
of his due share in the winnings gained from his English
* At the Mauritius he found a new governor appointed in his place.
On his waj thence to France on board of a Dutch vessel, he fell into
the hands of the English, was kindly treated in this country, and sent
to France on his parole. There, however, lie lay for three years in the
Bastille, under charges of which he was at length acquitted. But he
cime out of prison penniless and broken-hearted, to die on the 9th
September, 1753.
t Book iii. chap. 8.
THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN INDIA. 179
frionds. With four hundred Frenchmen and Sepoys
drilled in French fashion, and two guns, their leader
sallied forth against the Moghals. The Moghal horsemen
came thundering down upon the little band, but a few
■well-aimed discharges from the French guns checked them
in mid -career, causing them to waver, halt, and turn back
in headlong flight from the foe they had ignorantly despised.
This brilliant success was soon followed by another. A
French force of 230 white men and 700 Sepoys was on
its way from Pondicherry to succour Madras, when it
found about 10,000 of the Nawab's troops guarding with
their guns the passage of the Uttle river Adyar, near
Madras. In a moment Paradis and his men were across
the river, up the opposite bank, and pouring a volley into
tlie astonished foe. A charge with the bayonet drove the
Moghals into the town of St. Thome.* Once more the
French fire swept through their disordered masses, and
sent them flying helter-skelter out of their last refuge. At
that moment the victorious garrison of Madras came up
to complete the rout, and chase the panic-stricken Moghals
back towards Arkot.
Flushed with these victories, Dupleii proceeded to
attack the English in Fort St. David, about fifteen miles
to the south of Pondicherry. But the troops sent out by
him were badly led, and a sudden onset of the Nawab's
soldiers drove them back in disorder to the French capital.
An attack by sea on the Moghal town of Kadalor was de-
feated by a timely storm. In March, 1747, Dupleix's best
officer, Paradis himself, laid siege to Fort St. David, whose
slender garrison were saved for the second time by the
approach of an EngUsh squadron sent from the Hiighli to
their reHef.
By this time the wily governor of Pondicherry had
seduced the fickle Anwar -ud-din fi-om his English alliance.
But the Nawab's friendship was short-lived. In 1748 he
* Or Maliapiiram,
n2
180 HISTORY OF INDIA.
is again enlisted on the side of the English, who have got
all ready for a grand attack on Pondichen-y itself. By
the end of June a bold attempt of the French to sui-prise
Kadalor had been baffled by the clever soldiership of
Major Lawrence, the newly appointed commander of the
EngHsh forces in India. It was not long, however, before
La\vrence himself was taken prisoner by the brave de-
fenders of Ariankopan, a kind of outwork to the defences
of Pondicherry. Against the latter stronghold the re-
nowned Admiral Boscawen opened his trenches on the
10th September with about 6,000 soldiers, aided by a
powerful fleet. So skilfully, however, was the defence con-
ducted by Dupleix himself, after the fall of his ablest
engineer and stoutest helpmate, Pai-adis, that after six
weeks of fruitless eflbrt, in which young Clive,''= the future
victor of Plassy, nobly bore his part, Boscawen carried
back his armament to Fort St. David, leaving behind him
a thousand of his best soldiers dead from woirnds or
disease.
The victorious Frenchman took care to trumpet the
news of his success throughout India. From all quarters,
even from Dehh, letters of congratulation came pom-ing
in. It seemed as if nothing remained to him hut the
easy task of driving the defeated and despised EngUsh out
of the country. But in the midst of the movements
which Dupleix was planning for that end, came the un-
welcome tidings of peace concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle on
terms which obliged the French to give back their recent
conquests in Southern India. Madi-as was accordingly re-
stored into English keeping, and the rival nations resumed
the footing on which they had stood to each other five
years before.
• As a " writer " or clerk of the East India Company, Robert Clive
shared in the fruitless defence of Madr.^s against Libourdonnais.
CaiTied off a prisoner to Pondicherry, he escaped thence in disguise
to Fort St. David, and exchanging the pen for the sword, served as an
ensign at the siege of Pondicherry.
THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN INDIA. 181
But neither of them was willing to lot things remain as
they were. The quarrels of the neighbouring native
princes opened out new fields of enterprise to the servants
of ri\al companies founded for the promotion of peaceful
trade. On the plea of aiding the Maratha Rajah of Tanjor
to regain his lost throne, the English under Major Law-
rence besieged and took the fort of Devikiltta ; the posses-
bion of which, with a strip of adjoining country, was after-
wards secured to them by treaty with the Rajah's brother
and victorious rival, Partab Singh.
Meanwhile Dupleix was busy weaving a larger web of the
same kind, in concert with Chanda Sahib, son-in-law of a
former Nawab of Arkot, and for some j-ears past a state
prisoner at the court of Satara. The recent death of the
old Niziim-ul-Mulk, Chin Kilich IQian, enabled the plotters
to push their scheme. Set free by the Frenchman's
intercession, Chanda Siihib made common cause with the
Nizam's grandson, Mozaffar Jang, against his uncle Nasir
Jang, the rival claimant to the throne of the Daldian. At
the head of a largo force, aided by a choice French con-
tingent, these two princes entered the Carnatic, and gave
battle to Anwar-ud-din, whose fall completed their victory.
The chief honours of the day were won by M. de Bussy,
whose name was soon to figure prominently in the wars of
the Dakhan. Marching on to Arkot, Mozafi'ar Jang pro-
claimed himself Subadar, or Viceroy of the Dakhan, with
Chanda Sahib as ruler of the Carnatic in his name. In
proof of the latter's gratitude Dupleix himself was endowed
with the lordship of eighty-one villages ai-ound his
capital.*
Meanwhile Nasir Jang was raising a mighty army for
the purpose of crushing his rival ; and Mohammad Ali, a
son of the dead Nawab, had not asked in vain for the
help of English bayonets from Madras. When the op-
posing armies were near each other, a mutiny in the French
* Malleson's " French in India " chap vi.
182 HISTORY OF IXDU.
contingent spread dismay among their allies. Chanda
Sahib bravely covered the retreat of the French in the
face of Morari Rao and his swift Maratha horsemen ; but
Mozaflar Jang suiTendered to his uncle, who loaded him
with irons after having sworn upon the Koran to let bim
go free.
Nothing, however, seemed to daunt or overthrow Da-
pleis. He brought the leading mutineers to a stem reckon-
ing, and shamed their followers back into the paths of
discipline. His envoys took high ground in treating with
Nasir Jang. His trustiest messengers held secret con-
ference with discontented nobles in Nasir's camp. A few
hundred of his soldiers beat up the quarters of Morari
Rao, and frightened Nasir Jang himself into a swift
retreat from the neighbourhood of Pondicherry. He
shipped off five hundred Frenchmen and Sepoys to re-
capture Masulipatam from the Moghals. With a force no
larger D'Auteuil dared the attack of Mohammad All's
thii-ty thousand men, including two thousand English and
Sepoys. When the latter had withdrawn in dudgeon
fi'om the camp of their headstrong ally, D'Auteuil himself,
emboldened by the arrival of fresh succours from Pondi-
cherry, moved out against the Nawab, and drove his army
like a flock of frightened sheep across the Panar. A few
days afterwards some fifteen hundred Frenchmen and
Sepoys, led by the skilful Bussy, scattered ten thousand
of Mohammad All's warriors, who had rallied under the
walls of Jinji ; and, strengthened at the right moment by
fresh troops, Bussy's heroes not only entered the town,
but carried the rock-fortress which Sivaji had won through
fraud, and Aurangzib's best commander had retaken only
after a long blockade.
Disturbed by these successes, the master of the Dakhan
began to treat with his daring assailants. But the terms
on which Dupleix insisted were still too hard for his
digestion. At the head of a combined host of Moghals,
THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN INDIA. 183
Pathans, and Marathas, he continued his advance on
Jinji. But the traitors in his camp were numerous, and
Dupleis was not a man to stick at scruples in pursuit of
a given end. Ere long the Subadar was ready to yield all
that the Frenchman had asked. But his ofl'ers came too
late. Before a messenger from Dupleix could reach the
French camp, a signal from the plotting nobles in that of
Nilsir Jang had brought the French commander up to the
scene of action. In the fight that ensued between his
troops and the enemy the Pathans and Marathas took no
part. Guessing too late the meaning of their inaction, the
angi-y Subadar rode up to the traitor chiefs, and scolded
one of them, the Nawab of Kadapah, for his cowardice.
A bullet in his heart was the Nawab's reply. In a few
minutes the dead man's rival, Mozaffar Jang, found himself
transformed from a prisoner in chains, under peril of
instant death, into the newly-elected Subadar of the
Dakhan.
When the fight was over the new Subadar set off for
Pondicherry, where Dupleix, with much pomp and pa-
geantry, installed him in his uncle's place. Dupleix
himself, decked out in the robes of a Mohammadan
"Amrah," or baron of the highest class, was invested
with the government of all the Moghal dominions to the
south of the Kistna. Chanda Sahib, as Nawab of the
Carnatic, became the new governor's acknowledged vassal.
The bestowal of a goodly ja^ir or fief on Dupleix himself,
a handsome present in money to his oificers and men, and
the assignment of fresh districts to the Company under
whose flag they had fought, filled up the ungrudging
measure of the Subadar's gratitude to bis French alhes.
At that moment the fame and influence of Dupleix had
reached their highest point. Through his own skilful
daring, seconded by a mere handful of his countrymen,
the son of a French merchant had become the ruler of broad
provinces and the patron of the lord of Southern India.
184 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Accompanied by a small force of French and Sepoys
under Bussy, tlie new Subadar set out in the first daj-s of
1751 for his own capital of Aurangiibad. But the Pathan
chiefs who had compassed the death of Nasir Jang were
already plotting against his successor, who had stinted
them of their expected rewards. Their treachery dis-
covered, they were attacked and defeated by Bussy's
soldiers ; but Mozaffar Jang, in the eagerness of pursuit,
was slain by the hard-pressed Nawab of Kamiil, who a
moment after shared his victim's fate. Amidst the con-
fusion caused by this event Bussy showed himself equal to
the need. With the consent of his Moghal aUies, Salabat
Jang, a younger brother of Nasir Jang, was straightway
advanced, Uke his late nephew, from a prison to the vacant
throne.
185
CHAPTER X.
THE FIGHT BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
At the time of Salabat Jang's accession to the throne of
the Dakhan, Mohammad Ali was intriguing with the Eng-
lish at Madras against his successful rival, Chanda Sahib.
As soon as the hour seemed ripe for action, he threw off
the mask of apparent readiness to make peace with his
opponents, and refused to yield up Trichinopoly on any
terms to the rival Nawab. Once more, therefore, the
French and English were aiTanged in arms under oppos-
ing flags. While Chanda Sahib, aided by a few hundred
Frenchmen, was advancing on Trichinopoly, a small
English force marched ofl' to strengthen the native de-
fenders of that place, and a somewhat larger body took
the field in concert with tlieir native ally. The latter
force, however, crowned their defeat before Volkonda by
an ignominious retreat upon Trichinopoly ; and the troops
of Chanda Sahib promised themselves an easy capture of
his rival's last stronghold.
But fortune and the skilful soldiership of two brave
Englishmen were to spoil their reckonings. Captain
Robert Clive, who had already earned some laurels before
PondicheiTy and at Devikatta, now urged Mr. Saunders,
the able Governor of Madras, to save Trichinopoly by
making a dash at Arkot. With 200 Englishmen, 800
Sepoys, and eight guns, he was allowed to save Trichino-
poly in his own way. Ih the midst of a fearful thunder-
storm bis daring band presented themselves at the gates
of Chanda Sahib's capital. The astonished gan-ison offered
18G HISTORY OF INDIA.
no resistance to men who could thus brave the wrath of
the storm-god. Once master of the fort, which was more
than a mile round, Clive set hard to work at strengthening
its weak defences. The task seemed well-nigh hopeless,
but a master-mind had taken it firmly in hand. In spite
of Dupleix's entreaties, Chanda Sahib detached some
thousands of his best troops, under his son, Rajah Sahib,
to deal with Clive. For seven weeks the little garrison
of Arkot withstood the assaults of 10,000 men, aided
by a powerful battering-train ; their numbers reduced by
disease and wounds to 120 Englishmen and 200 Sepoys.
The succours which Mr. Saunders strained every nerve
to forward from Madras were beaten back, and the sup-
plies of the garrison were running very short, when Kajah
Siihib, learning that the Marathas under Morari Eao
were advancing to raise the siege, and foiled in his eflbrts
to win the place by treating with Clive himself, gave the
order for one last desperate assault.
On the 25th November, the fiftieth day of the siege, his
troops rushed forward to the attack, drunk with bhang
and religious ardour.''' For many hours the fight raged
at every assailable point, the Sepoys vving with then- Eng-
hsh comrades in the stoutness of their resistance to almost
crushing odds. In their attempts to crown the breaches,
the assailants were swept down by an unceasing fire of
muskets and guns, each man of the httle garrison having
spare muskets ready to his hands, while Chve himself
worked like a common gunner. At last the attack died
away, the town itself was abandoned during the night, and
the next morning saw Kajah Sahib's shattered forces re-
treating on Vellor.
The news of this heroic defence, maintained by a hand-
ful of men and half a dozen EugUsh otficers, mostly raw
volunteers, under a captain who had never before set a
* It was the d.iy of the great Mnssidman feast in memory of the
niai-tvved sou of Ali.
THE FIGHT BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH. 187
full company in the field, turned in favour of the English
that tide of native feeling which had hitherto been setting
strongly against them. Reinforced fi'om Madras, Clive
started off in pursuit of his late assailants, turned their
flank with the aid of his Marathas, and di-ove them, with
the loss of all their guns, fi-om the field. Another gi-eat
victoi-y over Rajah Sahib and his French allies at Kavari-
pak, on the road from Conjeveram to Ai'kot, left CUve
free to arrange with Mi-. Saunders for the relief of Trichi-
nopoly, then closely blockaded by the troops of Chanda
Sahib and M. Law.
At that moment, however, another brave Englishman,
Major Lawrence, the victor of Devikatta, who had mean-
while gone home to England, reappeared on the scene, as
commander of the troops destined for the relief of Tri-
chinopoly. With the hero of Ai-kot for his trusty lieu-
tenant, he was not likely to fail without good cause.
Trichinopoly was soon reheved ; and the French, defeated
or out-generalled at every turn, and cooped up at last in
an island between two rivers, gave themselves up to Law-
rence as prisoners of war. Forty-one guns, with heaps of
warUke stores, were included among the spoUs. Meanwhile
the luckless Chanda Sahib, who had surrendered to the
general commanding the native contingent from Tanjor,
under a solemn promise that his life should be spared,
was straightway put to death by order of his perjured
captor, and his head was forwarded as a welcome present
to Mohammad Ali.*
Foiled in his best efforts, Dupleix would not be dis-
heartened. The son of Chanda Sahib was at once pro-
claimed Xawab in his father's stead. Morari Rao and the
Regent of Maisor soon turned against their late ally. The
* Lawrence has teen blamed by Colonel MaUeson for conniving at
this piece of treacherj- ; but Orme's statement hardly bears out the
charge. The Nawab surrendered not to the English, but to the forces
of Mohammad Ali.
1S8 HISTORY OF INDIA.
repulse of an English attack upon Jinji encouraged the
French and their aUics to renew the siege of Tricbinopoly.
For two more years strife raged in the Caraatic, Clive and
Lawrence losing no chance of adding to their old renown,
while the prompt courage of an English subaltern, Lieu-
tenant Harrison, saved the fort of Trichinopoly from
almost certain capture.
Meanwhile Bussy's tact and boldness had served his
country well at the court of Salabat Jang. In spite of
secret foes and open assailants, he bad not only upheld
bis own nominee on the throne of the Dakhan, but bad
even won for himself the government of four' fertile dis-
tricts lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of
Bengal, and stretching for nearly 500 miles from the
Kistna northward to Ganjam. This valuable tract of
country, since known as the Northern Sarkars, surpassed
in extent and value the dominions which any other Euro-
pean power had hitherto swayed in India.
But a cruel blow was already being aimed at Dupleix's
ambition and the power he had striven so hard to esta-
blish. While the siege of Trichinopoly was yet languidly
going forward, there arrived at Pondicherry, in August,
1754, a special envoy empowered by the French Govern-
ment to treat with Mr. Saunders for a speedy end to the
strife between French and English on the Coromandel
coast. M. Godeheu, himself a director of the French
company, entered with a will on his appointed task. The
truce to which both parties presently agreed was followed
in December by a formal treaty, which bound both ahke
to refrain from mixing in the quarrels of native princes,
and virtually to accept Mohammad Ali as the rightful
Nawab. Each side was to retain its present winnings
until arrangements could be made for readjusting their
several shai-es. Godeheu, in short, surrendered almost
everything for which Dupleix had so long fought and
schemed, with var^-ing fortune, but with unflinching zeal.
THE FIGHT BET^\'EEN FKEN'CH AND ENGLISH. 189
But more to the English than all their other gains was the
recall of the daring statesman who had dreamed of build-
ing up a great French empire in Southern India. The
supplanted Governor of Pondicherry went home poor and
in debt, to meet with a chilling welcome from the com-
panj- he had served so well, to plead in vain for repay-
ment of the great sums he had spent out of his own for-
tune on their account, and to die at last in disgi'ace and
almost beggary, with the debtors' prison already staring
him in the face.
The treaty thus concluded was soon broken. The
Regent of Maisor, on the strength of a promise once made
by Mohammad Ali, pressed his claim to Trichinopoly,
which the English refused to render up. An English
force set out early in 1755 to help Mohammad Ali in
exacting tribute from the Palikars of Tinivalli and Madura.
The French in their turn gathered rents on behalf of the
Eegent of Maisor, and even threatened Trichinopoly itself.
Early in the next year a movement of the English against
Vellor was thwarted by the fh-mness of De Leyrit, who
had succeeded Godeheu as Governor of Pondichen-y.
Before the year's end it was known that France and
England were again at war, and De Leyrit lost no time
in acting upon that knowledge. ■\^Tiile the English were
engaged elsewhere in helping the Nawiib against his own
subjects, a strong force of French sjid Sepoys once more
endangered the safety of Trichinopoly. But the brave
Captain Calliaud, by a skilful movement, circumvented
the French commander, and forced him to retire to Pon-
dicherrv. For this repulse the French consoled them-
selves by a series of successful raids elsewhere, and the
last days of 1757 left them masters of nearly all the
stron" places in the dominions of Mohammad Ali, while
Bussv easily maintained his hold on the Northern Sarkars.
Meanwhile Bengal had become the scene of a struggle
on whose issue rested the future of all India. In April,
11)0 niSTORY OF INDIA.
175G, Alivardi Klmn, the able and stont-hearted Subadar
of Bengal, was succeeded by his favourite grandson,
Suraj-ud-daula, a youth whose feeble intellect and im-
perious temper had not been improved by a long course
of debauchery and freedom from all control. One of his
first acts as Subadar was to demand from Mr. Drake, the
Governor of Fort William, the immediate surrender of a
Hindu refugee, son of the wealthy governor of Dacca, and
the destruction of all the new defences which Mr. Drake
was accused of having erected round Calcutta. Enraged
at the Englishman's evasion of the former demand, he led
an army of fifty thousand men against a settlement in
every way ill-prepared to defend itself. A garrison
reduced by neglect to 174 men, weak defences, bad
gunpowder, cowardice among the leaders, disorder and
mismanagement everywhere, all combined to render the
fort and city an easy prey to the furious Subadar. On
the 19th June a general rush of men, women, and children,
to get on board the shipping in the river, was followed by
the flight thither of Mi'. Drake and the military com-
mandant.
Thus shamefuUy abandoned, Mr. Holwell, the ablest
civil officer left behind, took command of the weakened
garrison, and prepared to defend the fort. But everything
was against him. Blind to all his signals of distress, the
captains of the vessels, which had dropped two miles dovra
the river, made no attempt to succour then- deserted country-
men. The soldiers, who for two or three days had repulsed
the enemy's attacks, at length broke into the liquor-stores,
and became too drunk for further resistance. WhOe Mr.
Holwell was yet pai'leying with the besiegers, some of the
latter rushed into the scene of disorder, and in a few
minutes Fort William, with all its surviving defenders, fell
into the conqueror's hands.
But the survivors had yet to taste the full measure of
then- misfortunes. On one of the hottest nights in the
THE FIGHT BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH. 191
year, when the climate of Bengal had changed from the
heat of an open furnace to that of a well-warmed hot-
house, a himdi-ed and forty-sis prisoners, including one or
two women, were shut up in an old guard-room, or black-
hole for soldiers, less than eighteen feet square, into which
the air, yet further heated by the flames of burning ware-
houses, crept through two small windows strongly barred.
None but the strongest and those who kept nearest the
windows, had a chance of living through that awful night.
In the fight for life that went on from houi- to hour, few
heeded other tortures than their own. The living trampled
on the dying and the dead in their eflbrts to reach the
windows, or to get at the water handed in to them through
the bars. Mad with thirst, fever, pain, and the fearful
stench, many of them sought to end their sufferings by
provoking the guards outside to fii-e upon them. But
their inhuman jailors laughed the louder at their revilings,
held hghts to the windows the better to enjoy the dreadful
scene within, and gloated over the sight of thirsty wretches
fighting for the water with which they were kept supplied.*
Next morning, when the Subadar had slept off the efi'ects
of last night's debauch, there crawled out of that den of
horrors Holwell himself, with twenty-one men and one
woman,! most of them hardly more alive than the dead
who lay heaped up in noisome ghastliness within.
Holwell and four others, including the woman, were
carried ofi', in irons, to Murshidabad ; but the rest were
allowed to make their way to the ships, which forthwith
dropped down to Falta, near the mouth of the Hiighli.
Three months afterwards Holwell and three of his fellow-
* Mr. Holwell, one of the survivors, wrote a detailed account of the
horrors of that memorable night in language all the more powerful
for its unadorned simplicity.
t Mrs. Carey, whose husband, a sea-officer, died in the Black Hole.
When the survivors were released, she herself being, In Holwell'a
words, "too yormg and handsome," was reserved for the Prince's
baram at Murshidabad.
192 HISTORY OF INDIA.
suflferers were finally set free. It was not till the middle
of December that the English refugees at Falta descried
the fleet which Admiral Watson had led oat from Madras
two months before, laden with the troops destined to
retrieve the disasters of the previous June, and to pave
the nay for the conquest of Hindustan. Their commander.
Colonel Clive, who had returned to India in 1755 as
Governor of Fort St. David, and had since shared with
Admiral Watson in the taking of Giriah," lost no time in
adding to his old renown. The fort of Baj-baj, a little
way up the river, was soon taken by his troops and a body
of seamen. On the 2nd of January, 1757, Calcutta and
Fort William fell once more into English hands. Hughli
itself was stormed on the 10th by Clive"s best subaltern.
Captain Eyre Coote, the future opponent of Haidar Ali.
Enraged at these unforeseen reverses, Suraj-ud-daiila
led a large army towards Calcutta, masking his purpose by
a show of listening to the peaceful overtures from the
Calcutta Council. At length, impatient of further dallying
with a treacherous foe, CUve, on the 4th FebruaiT, made a
determined assault on the Moghal camp. A heavy fog
maiTed the full execution of a well-conceived movement,
and after some hard fighting Clive withdrew his troops.
But the frightened Subadi'ir had no mind to renew the
struggle with such foes. Drawing ofi' his army to a safe
distance from Calcutta, he ofi'ered, this time sincerely, to
make peace. On the 9th February was concluded a treaty
which restored to the English all their former privileges
and factories, gave them full permission to fortify Calcutta,
to coin money at their own mint, and promised in some
measure to make good their recent losses.
• See book iii. chap. 8.
193
CHAPTER XI.
THE ENGLISH TBIDMPHANT 1757-17r)l.
By this time Calcutta had learned the news of another
war in Europe between France and England. Instead of
returning to Madras, Clive at once resolved to attack the
French settlement of Chandanagor, on the Hiighh. The
faithless Suhadar, on the other hand, was aheady plotting
with Bussy against his new friends, while the Calcutta
Council, led by the wretched Drake, were bent on pledging
their countrymen to remain strictly neutral towards the
French in Bengal. But CUve's forecasting energy over-
rode all obstacles, and the way was further cleared for
nim by a threatening letter, in which Admiral Watson
told the Subadar that, if any more plottings went on with
the French, he would " kindle such a flame in the country
as all the waters of the Ganges should not be able to
extinguish." A humble answer from the frightened Suraj-
ud-daula removed the last scruples from the mind of the
honest sailor, who forthwith went heartily to work in aid
of his less scrupulous colleague.
On the 14th March Chve made his fii-st movement
against the fort of Chandanagor. On the 17th his bat-
teries opened their fire, to which the defenders kept up for
some days a spirited reply. It was not till the 23rd
that Watson could bring two of his men-of-war alongside
the fort ; but a few broadsides from the Kent and Tiger
wrought such havoc that the French were driven to treat
for a surrender, and before evening Chandanagor, with its
0
194 HISTORY OF INDIA.
brave garrison and much treasure, had passed into 'Watson's
hands, not without heavy loss to the conquerors.*
The Subadilr was furious, but he took care to dissemble
his rage and hatred of the victorious Enghsh. Cringing
and insolent by turns, now bribing Bussy to come and
help him against the common foe, anon seeking to lull
Clive's suspicions by letters full of high-flown compliments,
now threatening the English factory at Kasimbazar, anon
sending to Calcutta a large instalment of the promised
indemnity, he furnished Clive with ample pretexts for
treating him as an enemy in disguise. The Englishman,
however, for all his courage and his past achievements,
would commit himself to no rash movement against the
ruler of a rich and powerful province and the commander
of countless legions. He preferred to meet cunning with
cunning, plots with plots ; and his opponent's folly lent
itself to alibis schemes. A plot for the Nawab's dethrone-
ment was carried on between the Enghsh leaders and some
of the foremost statesmen and richest bankers in Bengal.
It was agreed that Mir Jafiir, brother-in-law of the late
Subadar, should be raised to the forfeit throne, in return
for vast sums of money payable to the Enghsh Company
and their troops.
The plot was well-nigh ripe when Amin Chand, a rich
Hindu banker, who had long played a doubtful part both
towards the English and his own sovereign, threatened to
disclose to the latter all that he had somehow learned,
unless his silence could be purchased on his own terms.
Chve at once resolved to outwit him with his own weapons.
Two copies of the secret treaty with Mir Jatiir were drawn
up, in only one of which was inserted the agreement made
• Among the troops employed in the siege were the Bengal Bat-
talion, afterwards the 1st Bengal European Fusiliers, and the Bengal
Sipahi Battalion, afterwards the 1st Bengal Xative Infantry. The
latter regiment had been raised, armed, and drilled like an English
regiment by Clive himself. (Broome's " History of the Bengal Army,"
p. 92 and 116.)
THE ENGLISH TEIXJltPHANT. 195
witli the treacherous Hindu. Among the names affixed
to this document was that of Admiral Watson, forged
apparently by Chve himself with the assent of his more
scrupulous colleague. In excuse for the part borne by
CUve in these crooked proceedings, it must be remembered
that many lives of Englishmen and natives in Bengal were
staked on the good faith of a self-seeking scoundrel, who
would else have sold to their worst enemy the secret he
had ferreted out for himself.
By this time Sui'iij-ud-daula had heard of Ahmad Shah's
retreat from Dehli into Afghanistiin. Danger from that
quarter he no longer feared ; but the signs of danger
nearer home had begim to attract his notice ; and the
flight of Watts, the EngUsh agent, from Murshidabad
seemed to confirm his worst suspicions. While his own
troops were once more mustering at Plassy, about forty
miles to the south of Murshidabad, Clive was preparing to
strike the blow which was to make him vii'tual master of
Bengal. On the 18th June, 1757, he marched from Chan-
danagdr at the head of 1,000 Englishmen and about 2,000
Sepoys, and ten guns. On the 17th the fort of Katwa was
carried by his troops after a brief resistance. Here the
monsoon or rainy season burst upon them with a violence
which for a moment damped the spirits of their bold
leader himself. The news that presently reached him from
Mir Jaffir did httle to allay his new-born doubts and mis-
givings. Defeat at that distance from all support meant
utter ruin to his Httle army and to the hopes that centred
in them. He wrote for help to the Eajah of Bardwan.
For the first and last time in his life he called a council of
war. His own vote, the first given, was in favour of
halting at Katwa until the close of the monsoon. In spite
of the counterpleadings of bold Major Coote, twelve
officers out of nineteen voted with Colonel CUve.
But a few hours later the cloud had passed away from
his soul, and the order was given for his troops to cross
0 2
19G HISTOBY OF INDIA.
the river next morning. A long march of fifteen miles
through mud and water brought them, at one in the
morning of the 23rd June, to a grove of mango trees
beyond the village of Plassy, within easy hearing of the
enemy's drums. The left of his little army rested on the
Bhagirati river. A mile in front of him lay the enemy,
50,000 strong in infantry alone, besides 18,000 horsemen
from the north, and fifty-three guns, mostly of great size.
Soon after daybreak the hosts of Suraj-ud-daula ad-
vanced from their entrenchments to the attack ; a small
party of Frenchmen with four light field-pieces leading
the way. By eight o'clock the latter were engaged with a
small body of English well posted in front of their main
line. "When the enemy's fire became too hot for his little
force, Clive withdrew to the safer shelter of the grove.
For some hours a cannonade was kept up on both sides,
with little damage to the English, who from behind their own
breastworks took leisurely aim at the masses in their front.
At noon the enemy's ammunition was nearly all spoilt by
a heavy shower. A charge of the enemy's horse was
easily repulsed, and the fall of their leader himself struck
the Subadar with sudden terror. By two p.m. the great
bulk of his troops were already moving from the field,
while their panic-stricken commander led the way with
2,000 horse to his own capital of Murshidabad. The
French withdrew their guns into the entrenched camp.
Mir Jaffir Khan, whose movements had hitherto puzzled
the English commander, at length drew ofi' his otnti men
from Clive's right flank. No longer doubtful of tlie issue,
Clive pushed boldly forward against the entrenchments,
where the French still bravely held their ground. Ere
long they also had to retii'e without their guns. By five
o'clock the victors were in full possession of the enemy's
camp with all the vast wealth it contained in baggage,
cattle, guns, and warlike stores. The victory which was to
seal the fate of India had been won with a loss of only
THE ENGLISH TRIUMPHANT. 197
twenty- three soldiers killed and forty-nine wounded on the
winning side.
Arrived at Murshidabad, Suraj-ud-daula took counsel
with his officers of state. For a moment the bolder policy
recommended bj' some of them revived his courage ; but
his old fears and suspicions speedily returned, and the
next night he fled in disguise fi'om his palace, only to fall
a few days later into the hands of his enemy Mir Jaffir,
whose son, impatient of his father's kindlier leanings,
caused the grandson of his father's benefactor to be privily
put to death.
Six days after the rout of Plassy, CUve entered Mur-
shidabad. Mir Jaffir was formally saluted as Kawab of
Bengal, Bah;u', and Orissa, and steps were taken to fulfil
the compact which had placed him on his kinsman's
throne. A large sum of money was at once sent down to
Calcutta in part payment of the promised compensation
for the losses suflered in 1756. On the East India Com-
pany was bestowed the fee simple of the land for six
hundred yards around the Maratha Ditch, together with
revenue rights over the country south of Calcutta. The
members of the Calcutta Council, and the forces, naval and
military, received handsome presents. The conqueror of
Plassy, who might have helped himself to untold wealth
out of the royal treasury, was content to accept a thank-
offering of about two hundred thousand pounds.*
It was now time to undeceive the wi'etched Amin Chand.
The genuine treatj- was produced and read. On discover-
ing the trick which had been played upon him, Amin
Chand fell senseless to the ground. The shock to his
avarice may have weakened his wits ; it certainly sent Vijti-i
* To those who afterwards upbraided him with his greed, he indig-
naDtly repMed, "When I recollect entering the treasury at Murehi-
dabdd, with heaps of silver and gold to the right hand and to the left,
and these crowned with jewels, I stand astonished at my own mode-
ration."
198 HISTOBY OF INDIA.
on a pilgrimage to a famous Hindu shrine ; but it did
not afterwards keep him from mixing again in public
affairs.*
Clive had now gained for his countrymen that pre-
eminence in Bengal which Dupleix had once secured for
the French in Southern India. As Governor of Fort Wil-
liam in reward for his brilliant services, he lost no time
in following up his late achievements. The French were
hunted out of Bahar into Audh by the dogged pertinacity
of Major Coote. Several risings against the new Nawab of
Bengal were promptly suppressed. Colonel Forde, one of
CUve's best officers, was sent off to fight the French, no longer
led by Bussy, in the Northern Sarkars. By a series of bold
movements and well-delivered blows that dashing com-
mander wrested Masuhpatam from the French, and fright-
ened the Nizam, Salabat Jang, into ceding a large tract of
adjacent country to the conquerors of his late friends. Shah
Alam, son of the puppet Emperor of Dehli, sought, with the
help of the Nawab of Audh, to carve out a kingdom for
himself in Bengal. But the mere sound of Olive's coming
forced him to raise the siege of Patna ; the army he had
got together melted away before the swift approach of
Clive's warriors, who cared nothing for heat or superior
numbers ; and the prince himself, deserted by his ally,
was glad to obtain from his pursuer the means of con-
tinuing his homeward flight. For this fresh service Clive
was rewarded by Mir Jaflu: with a jagir worth about
£25,000 a-year.
But the new Nawab of Bengal had not yet learned the
lesson of passing events. He began to intrigue with the
Dutch at Chinsura against the power to which he owed
everything. A Dutch fleet from Java, laden with troops,
appeared in the Hiighli. There was then no war between
England and Holland, and Clive had some private reasons
• He is said to have died a drivelling idiot ; bat the story is very
doubtful. See Broome's " Bengal Army," p. 154.
THE ENGLISH TRIUMPHANT. 199
for avoiding a quarrel.* But he met the danger with
his wonted readiness, and Dutch outrages provoked the
struggle which, as a statesman, he had no wish to avert.
On the 24th November six out of seven Dutch men-of-war
were taken, after two hours' hard fighting, by three
English ships of small burden,! and the seventh was
afterwards caught near the mouth of the river. On the
same day the bold Colonel Forde drove the Dutch, with
heavy slaughter, back into Chinsura ; and on the morrow
another force of Dutchmen, Sepoys, and Malays, was well-
nigh destroyed on the plain of Bidara by about half the
number of English and native troops under the same
leader. Thoroughly humbled, the Dutch at Chinsura
sued for terms, which issued in a treaty binding them to
pay the expenses of the war, to discharge the bulk of their
troops, dismiss the vessels which Clive engaged to restore,
and to resume the footing on which they had hitherto
traded in Bengal.
Early in the next year Clive sailed for England, in the
flush of his well-earned fame, at the age of thirty-four,
to receive fresh honours from his admiring countrymen.
Meanwhile in Southern India also the tide was turning
fast and finally against the French. Lally, a brave but
headstrong soldier, who had fought in the Irish Brigade at
Fontenoy, strove hard but vainly to stem that tide. Fort
St. David and Devikatta fell before his arms. The siege
of Tanjor was raised by the timely intervention of an
English force ; and a French fleet, which might have done
Lally good service, sailed oS" at a critical moment to the
Isle of France. Arkot, on the other hand, was surrendered
to the French by Mohammad Ali ; and Bussy, who had
been summoned in an evil hour to Lally's aid from the
• The bulk of his wealth had just been remitted to Europe through
the Dutch East India Company.
t The largest, the Calcutta, measured only 761 tons. Four of the
Dutchmen carried thirty-six guns a-piece, and two more twenty-sii
guns. (Broome's " Bengal Army," chap. 3.)
200 HISTORY OF INDIA.
scene of his own successes, vainly attempted to dissuade
his headstrong chief from undertaking the siege of Madras
itself. In the last days of 1758 Lally's soldiers took up
their posts in front of a stronghold defended by the veteran
Colonel Lawrence. For two months they held their ground
in spite of the resistance offered by the besieged, and the
spirited eflbrts of Major Calliaud to annoy the besiegers
from behind. In February, 1759, a breach was made in
the walls of the Fort, and Lally was preparing to storm it
if he could, when, on the 16th, an Enghsh fleet laden
with succours anchored in the Roads. Next day the
French were in full retreat on Arkot, leaving behind them
fifty-two guns and many of their sick and wounded.
For yet another year the fight for empire in Southern
India went forward to issues which grew daily clearer.
The failure of the English in their fii-st attack on Wandi-
wash was brilhantly retrieved a few months later by
Coote's capture of that place, and the crushing defeat he
afterwards inflicted on a French force which ventured to
renew the siege. Bussy himself, who was among the
prisoners, was generously allowed to return to Pondicherry.
One strong place after another was taken or retaken by
the victorious English. With the fall of Karikal in April,
1760, the French had little more to lose in Southern
India besides Pondicherry itself. Hampered at every turn,
now by want of stores and money, anon by the interference
of his civil colleagues, or the mutinous conduct of his own
ill-paid, starving troops, LaUy saw his prospects growing
darker and darker, until in September he and his countn,'
men were closely besieged in their Indian capital by the
foe whom he had so lately thought to di'ive into the sea.
In vain had Lally looked round among the native princes
to help him in his hour of need. Neither from Haidar
Ali, the usurping ruler of Maisor, nor from Balaji Rao,
the Maratha Peshwa, could any help be obtained. Week
after week saw his chances grow more desperate, as the
1
THE ENGLISH TRIUMPHANT. 201
English drew their circles closer around him, and the
stock of food for his garrison melted away. Even the
great storm of December, which destroyed the English
batteries and sank or disabled many of the English
ships, brought no relief to the despairing garrison and
their sick commander. At length, on the 15th January,
1761, when his stock of food was on the point of being
exhausted, Lally offered to surrender. Colonel Coote
would listen to no conditions, and Lally could only bow to
his fate. Next day, when the English marched into the
surrendered stronghold, the wasted forms and wan faces
of the soldiers drawn up to receive them told their own
tale.
Pondicherry was afterwards levelled to the ground.
Lally, hooted by its ungrateful citizens, withdrew to
Madras, from thence to Paris, where misfortune still dogged
his steps. The men who had persistently thwarted him in
Pondicherry sent home their owa version of past events.
Bussy himself made common cause with De Leyrit's
party against the man who had bravely done his best to
save French India. In 17GG, after languishing for three
years in the Bastille, the luckless Irishman paid upon the
scaffold the penalty in France so often awarded to ill-
success.
With the fall of Pondicherry the French power in India
passed away. Three months later the last of the French
garrisons sun-endered to an English force ; and three
years after the death of Lally the Company, which had
made no effort to save one of its ablest servants, was itself
consigned to extinction. Thenceforth the history of India
becomes the history of British struggles and achievements
in the path marked out for England by the victory of
Plassy and the rout of Piinipat.
BOOK IV.
THE RULE OF THE COMPANY.
CHAPTER I.
THE ENGLISH IN BENGAL 1761-1774.
With the fall of Pondicherry and the battle of Ptinipat, two
leading events in the history of the same year, a new
power has begun to raise its head among the peoples and
princes of India. Before tracing the further growth of
that power, it is well to take a rapid sniTey of Indian
affairs about the year 1761.
If the strength of the Marathas was cruelly broken by
the slaughter of Panipat, the empire of Dehli had already
dwindled away to a few districts around the capital. The
Panjiib was ruled by the Afghan Ahmad Shiih. In Sindh
the Talpur chiefs acknowledged no master. Rohilkhand
obeyed the orders of Xajib-ud-daula. Shnja-nd-daula,
the Xawab Yizier of Audh, paid the merest show of
obedience to his titular lord at Dehli. The Hindu princes
of Rajputana had won for themselves an independence
tempered only by the need of paying now and then the
Maratha chauth. The Maratha power, if its unity was
broken at Panipat, still swayed under separate piinces a
vast tract of country, from Gujarat in the west to Tanjor
in the south. The Gaikwar reigned in Gujarat, Smdia
201
HISTORY OF INDIA.
and Holkar divided MiVlwa between them, the Bhosla
dynasty was firmly seated in Nagpiir, Maratha princes
held Tanjor and part of the Camatie, the Rajahs of Kola-
pur and Satara were still supreme along the Western Ghats,
I
and the Peshwa of Piina reigned over a long stretch of
country from the borders of Maisor to Kalpi and Jhiinsi
on the Jamna. Orissa itself obeyed the Maratha rule, and
nothing hut CHve's firmness had deterred the Marathas
from continuing to levy chanth in Bengal.
THE ENGLISH IN BENGAL. '205
The Juts, a warlike tribe of Hindu origin from the
banks of the Indus, who had greatly troubled the officers
of Aurangzib, had already under the daring Suraj Mai
founded a strong state between Jaipur and Agra, with
Bhartpur for its fortified capital. Salabat Jang, as Nizam
of the Dakhan, ruled over a dominion sadly crippled by
the conquests of his Maratha neighbours. In Maisor the
ambitious Mussulman soldier, Haidar Ali, had already won
the virtual sovereignty of a kingdom hitherto swayed by a
long succession of Hindu Rajahs. Mohammad Ali, under
English protection, held independent rule over the Carnatic
from the Pamir river to Tanjor. The little states of Tra-
vankor and Cochin were still governed by Hindu rulers.
Goa and its few dependencies belonged to Portugal. Be-
sides their old settlements on either coast, the actual pos-
sessions of the English were confined to certain districts
around Calcutta and in the Northern Sarkiirs. But the
rich and populous provinces of Bengal and Bahar were
ruled by a sovereign of their own choice, upheld on his
throne by British bayonets, and liable at any moment to
be set aside by those who had placed him there. It was,
in short, the same tenure on which the Nawab of the
Carnatic held the dominions he had won with EngUsh aid
from the French and their native allies.
Soon after his bootless raid into Bahar, Shah Alam,
whose real name was Ali Johar, mounted the tottering
throne of Dehli in the room of his murdered father.* Still
hankering after Bengal, and afraid to enter his own capital,
he marched with his new vizier, Shuja-ud-daula, and a
large force upon Patna in the first days of 1760. De-
feated, followed up, and checked at every turn by the
active Colonel Calliaud, he made a bold rush back from
the neighboui-hood of Mui'shidiibad to Patna ; and that
city, closely besieged for nine days, was on the point of
falling, when Captain Knox with 200 Englishmen, a
* Book iii. chap. 8.
206 HISTOBY OP INDIA.
regiment of Sepoys, and a few troops of horse, came up
to the rescue after a long hurried march in the hottest
season of the year. The rout and final scattering of Shah
Alam's troops was followed up by a yet more daring attack
on the 30,000 men and thirty guns, which the Nawab of
Pamia had brought up too late to the emperor's aid. A
fight of six hours ended in such a victory for the handful
of Knox's warriors, as clinched the hold already won by
like feats of prowess on the native mind.
Meanwhile the government of Mir Jaffir was falling into
worse and worse confusion. The death of his son, the cruel,
profligate, but stronghanded Miran, brought matters to a
speedy crisis. Mir Kasim, the old man's son-in-law, opened
the way for his own advancement by settling out of his
own purse the arrears of pay demanded by the mutinous
soldiery of Bengal. His schemes for the dethronement of
his weak father-in-law found ready countenance at Calcutta,
where Mr. Vansittart was ruling in the place of Clive. In
due time Mir Jaffir agi'eed, however reluctantly, to make
way for Mir Kasim ; and English help in the unpleasant
business was repaid by the addition of Midnapiir, Bardwan,
and Chittagong, to the realms of the East India Company ;
besides a gift of twenty lakhs of rupees, or £250,000, to
Vansittart, Holwell, and their feUow-councUlors.
But the bargain thus concluded bore little fruit for
good. It was not long before the new Nawab began to
aim at gradually shaking himself free from British control.
He transfeiTed his seat of government from Murshidabad
to Monghir. His troops were disciplined on the English
model and armed with muskets better than those which
bore the Tower mark. A foundry for casting cannon was
secretly set at work. A feithful friend of the English,
Ramnarain, Governor of Patna, was plundered of all his
wealth with the assent of the feeble Vansittart, in spite of
the efforts made by English officers in behalf of one whose
safety had been guaranteed by the Calcutta Council.
I
THE ENGLISH IN BENGAL. 207
At length the smouldering quarrel between the English
and Mir Kasim blazed out into open war. A dispute
concerning the undue extent to which the Company's
servants had carried their right of exemption from transit
duties on their own goods was inflamed by acts of violence
on both sides. One Englishman was slain in a scuffle ;
Mr. Ellis, head of the Patna factory, and several other
gentlemen were taken prisoners after a vain attempt to
seize upon the city ; some of the leading natives in Bengal
shared the fate of their English friends; and before the
middle of 1763 the troops on both sides were ready to
take the field.
In the midst of the heavy July rains the campaign was
opened by the English, who drove the Nawab's army be-
fore them at Katwa on the 19th, entered Murshidabad a'
few days later, and replaced Mir Jaffir, now old, leprous,
and half-imbecile, on the throne he had been forced to
abdicate three years before. A second victory, won at
Giriah on the 2nd August after a hard fight, enraged
Kasim beyond aU bearing. Eamnarain and the great Sett
bankers of Murshidabad were thrown into the Ganges;
Eajah EajbaUab, another old friend of the EngUsh, was put
to death with all his sons ; and an order was issued for
the murder of every EngUshman imprisoned at Patna.
When Kasim's own officers declined to do such butcher's
work, he found a ready instrument in Walter Reinhardt, a
native of Lusembm-g, who had deserted from one service
into another untU, escaping -with Law's small band of
Frenchmen from Chandanagor, he rose to high command
under Mir Kasim. The nickname of Sombre, which his
Swiss or Enghsh comrades at Bombay had given him
for his dark complexion and sullen looks, his Bengali
followers had turned into Sumru, the name by which
English writers have handed him down to lasting infamy.
This merciless ruffian, whose hatred of the English had
helped to endear him to his new master, carried out so
208 HISTORY OF DfDIi.
thoroughly his savage errand, that more than fifty gentle-
men and a hundred soldiers with a few women were shot
down or cut to pieces in cold blood.
This happened in October, a few weeks after Major
Adams with 3,000 men had utterly routed 50,000 of the
enemy near Rajmahal, with the loss of 15,000 men and a
hundred guns. On the 6th November Patna itself was
stormed in the most brilUant style by Adams' unquailing
heroes ; English and Sepoys vying with each other in
deeds of daring against formidable odds. A week later
Adams set out in chace of the disheartened Nawab, whose
myriads were fast melting away from him under the spell
of so many defeats. Before the year's end, however, Mir
Kiisim and the ruffian Sumru had found shelter in Audh
under the wing of his old enemy Shuja-ud-daula.
Worn out with toil and exposure, Major Adams now
threw up the command of the Httle army which in less
than five months he had led from Calcutta to the Karam-
nasa, defeating many times his own numbers of disciplined
troops in two pitched battles, carrying four strong places
by siege or assault, and capturing more than 400 pieces
of cannon. It is sad to think that the foremost hero of a
campaign, perhaps the most brilliant ever fought in India,
was fated never to enjoy the honours he had so richly
earned. Major Adams had hardly reached Calcutta on
his way home, when he died amidst the unfeigned regrets
of every Enghshman in Bengal*
Next year the struggle was renewed by the Nawab-
Vizier of Audh, who marched down towards the Ganges
with the wandering Shah Alam and the ousted Mir Kasim
in his train. Chased out of Bengal in 1760, and shut out
by the Marathas from his own capital, Shah Alam had
* Broome's " Bengal Army," chap. 4. " What," asks the anthor,
" were the boasted Indian triumphs of Darius, of Alexander, or Seleucus
Nicator, with their powerful and disciplined armies, opposed to unwar-
like barbarians, divided amongst themselves, compared to this single
campaign ? "
I
THE ENGLISH IN BENGAl. 209
lingered in Bahar, where early in 1761 he was twice en-
countered and defeated by Major Camac. Among the
prisoners taken in the well-fought action at Suan, near the
city of Bahar, was the brave Frenchman Law, Chve's old
opponent at Plassy, who surrendered only on condition of
keeping his sword. The beaten emperor at length made
peace, on terms which left him free to mend his tattered
fortunes further north, with the help of a modest pension
from his late foes. On his way up the country, however,
he had fallen into the hands of Shuja-ud-daula, who kept
guard over his titular sovereign as a kind of prisoner at
large.
On the approach of the Nawab- Vizier's army, the Eng-
lish retired into Patna, which on the 3rd May, 1764, was
attacked by the enemy for several hours with more of
daring than success. As the rainy season di-ew near,
Shujii-ud-daula fell back to Basar. During the pause
which followed the outbreak of the monsoon, the mutinous
spirit which, earlier in the year, had spread for a time
from the European soldiers to their native comrades,
broke out again among the latter with such violence, that
Major Munro, a king's ofBcer who had just replaced the
feebler Carnac in the chief command, was diiven to quell
it by blowing the ringleaders away from the cannon's
mouth. His timely firmness nipped the new danger in
the bud. The mutineers, who seem to have behaved like
pettish children, returned at once to their duty, and Munro
set forth in October towards Basiir with a force of about
900 Europeans, 6,000 native horse and foot, and twenty-
eight guns.
On the 23rd he fought and won the famous battle of
Baxar against an army about 50,000 strong, including
Sumi'u's disciplined brigades, and thousands of Afghan
horsemen who had fought under Ahmad Shah at Piinipat.
A hundred and thirty guns, mostly of large calibre, en-
hanced the odds against the Enghsh commander. Nothing,
p
210 HISTORY OF INDIA.
however, could withstand Munro's skilful movements and
the unfaltering prowess of his troops. After a day's hard
fighting the Enghsh saw themselves masters of a field
strewn with thousands of the enemy's dead. Thousands
more perished in their headlong flight across a neighbour-
ing stream, and hut for the breaking of a bridge by Shu-
jii's order a vast amount of treasure would have swelled
the victor's gains. As it was, however, the enemy's
camp and a hundred and thirty guns fell into their hands.
For a victory which placed the whole of Bengal and a
great part of Upper India at their mercy, the English paid
vrith a loss of 847 in killed and wounded.
Shuja-ud-daula fled across the Gogra into Audh, whOe
the English marched upon Allahabad. "Want of money
kept them from advancing further, and time was wasted
in fruitless negotiations with Shah Alam, who had now
had enough of Shnja's protection, and with the Nawiib-
Vizier, who declined to yield up Sumru and Mir Kiisim,
but proposed, of course in vain, to despatch the former
by underhand means. Two brave but unsuccessful as-
saults upon the rock-fortress of Chunar, a few miles above
Banaras, close the record of English failures and successes
for this year.
Once more in 1765 the Nawab-Vizier, with the help of a
Rohilla force from Rohilkhand, took the field, while Malhar
Eao was bringing up his Marathas from Gwalior to attack
the English on that side. But Carnac, who had taken
the command vacated by Munro, soon di'ove the Marathas
back across the Jamna, and, after beating Shuja himself
in several encounters, forced him to make peace at any
cost with his conquerors. The treatment he received was
merciful enough, for Clive had once more appeared upon
the scene. In the month of May the victor of Plassy
sailed up the Hughli as Lord Clive, Governor and Com-
mander-in-chief of the Company's possessions in Bengal.
The years he had spent in England were years of frequent
THE ENGLISH IN BENGAL. 211
warfare between him and tlie Court of Directors, who
begrudged their ablest servant the estates conferred on
him by their Indian allies. But Chve's great influence,
and the course of later events in Bengal, had at last com-
pelled them to lay aside their private jealousies, in favour
of one marked out by the common voice for the work of
restoring order and good government on that side of
India.
One of Olive's first acts in India was to conclude with
the suppUant niler of Audh a treaty which surrendered to
the Moghal emperor the districts of Korah and Allahabad,
assured the payment of fifty lakhs of rupees as a fine to
the Company, and empowered them to trade free of duty
throughout the Nawab's dominions. He next proceeded
to ratify the agreement already made in efi'ect with Shah
Alam. In return for the revenues of the districts ceded
by Shuja-ud-daula, and for twenty-six lakhs a-year from
the revenues of Bengal and Bahar, the emperor on the
12th August formally endowed his Enghsh friends with
the Dewani or virtual government of Bengal, Bahar, and
Orissa — provinces which then contained about twenty-five
million souls, and yielded a revenue of four millions ster-
ling. The English, on the other hand, agreed to furnish
the titular Nawab of Murshidabad with the means of sup-
porting his mock sovereignty, and a household suited to
his rank. A new nominee of the Company, Najm-ud-
daula, had just been raised to the unreal throne, whence
death, hastened by the insolence of English greed, had
finally removed his aged father, Mir Jaffir. As for the
discrowned esile, Mir Kasim, he had ah-eady exchanged
the cruel guardianship of Shuja-ud-daula for a life of un-
heeded poverty near Banaras ; while the infamous Sumru,
scenting danger from a prolonged stay in Audh, had just
hired out his services to the Jats of Bhartpiir.
Thus, in less than ten years, the merchant-company
whose life-struggles seemed to have been quenched in the
p2
212 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Black Hole of Calcutta, had gone so far on its new career
of conquest as to dictate terms to half the princes of
India, to make the Moghal emperor himself a mere pen-
sioner and footstool of his English heges, and to thwart
the greatest native power in India, the Maratha League,
in all its efforts to retrieve the disaster of Panipat. " We
have estahhshed," wrote Clive to the India House, " sucb
a force that all the powers in Hindustan cannot deprive us
of our possessions for many years." Yet Clive himself
could not or would not see the goal to which events were
already bearing the foreign masters of Bengal. He as-
sured the Court of Directors of his firm resolve and hope
always to confine their possessions to the provinces he
had just obtained for them. To go any farther was " a
scheme so extravagantly ambitious that no government in
its senses would ever dream of it."
The work of conquest was not, however, to be resumed
by Clive. Far other tasks devolved upon him during the
brief remainder of his Indian career. A serious mutiny
among his own ofiBcers, caused by a reduction of their
extra pay in the field, had to be encountered with a strong
hand ; but Clive was equal to the need. The mutiny was
promptly quelled with the aid of his faithful Sepoys ; *
and after some of the worst offenders had been cashiered
by court-martial, the rest in all penitence returned to
theii- duty.
A yet fiercer lion stood in Clive's way. The Company's
servants in Bengal had been wont to eke out their small
salaries by all manner of indirect gains, by means which
made them a byeword among their own countrymen, and
a terror to the people at whose expense their ill-gotten
riches were mostly earned. Intent on winning large for-
tunes in a few months, they overreached, plundered, op-
pressed their native customers, aUies, and subjects at
* One Sepoy regiment marched 104 miles in fifty-four hours, reach-
ing Surdjpur in time to prevent an outbreak among the Europeans.
I
THE ENGLISH IN BENGAL. 218
every turn. " The people under their dominion," said a
native chronicler of those times, " groan everywhere, and
are reduced to poverty and distress." Nearly the whole
inland trade of the country passed through the all-grasp-
ing hands of the Calcutta Council and their like-minded
agents. No one, high or low, was safe fiom their un-
scrupulous greed. Their demands and exactions had
hastened the death of Mir JafSr. Twenty lakhs of rupees
from the exhausted treasury at Murshidabad was the sum
distributed among nine of the leading men at Calcutta, as
the price of their agreeing to set up his infant son in his
stead. While Bengal was going to ruin, and the Com-
pany at home grumbled over their small dividends, the
Calcutta factors kept filling their own pui-ses in utter dis-
regard of justice, decency, and common patriotism. Clive
mourned over the eclipse of his country's fame, and de-
clared with honest scorn that " there were not five men of
principle left at the presidency."*
He had gone out again, however, determined, as he
said himself, to " destroy these great and growing evils,
or perish in the attempt." In less than two years, the
task entrusted to him was fairly accomphshed. Armed
with the chief civil and military control, he cared nothing
for the intrigues, clamours, and open resistance of his
colleagues and subordinates. The taking of presents from
the natives was forbidden under stem penalties, and the
private ti-ade of the Company's servants put down. Some
of his opponents were turned out of oflBce, and their
places filled with gentlemen from Madras. DebaiTed by
his instructions from raising the pay of the civil servants
to a point commensurate with their official standing, Clive
sought to check the tendency to make money through
indirect and underhand means, by reserving the monopoly
* For a striking yet truthful picture of Bengal at this period the
reader may turn with profit to Macaulay's masterly essay on "Lord
Clive."
214 HISTORY OF INDIA.
of salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, for the special use of the
chief civil and mihtary officers. After a certain sum had
been set apart for the Company at home, the balance was
parcelled out in so many shares among the members of
council, colonels, senior merchants, factors, and other
gentlemen, to each according to his rank. It is strange
to think that a measure which at least succeeded in
uprooting the worst abuses of a faulty system, was after-
wards quoted against its author as the very wickedest of
his alleged misdeeds.
In the beginning of 1767 Clive quitted for the last time
the scene of achievements which, however blurred by a
few acts of doubtful justice, entitle him to a foremost
place in the hearts and memories of his countrymen. No
other man of his age and mark, beset with like tempta-
tions, overcame them, on the whole, with loftier coui'age
and cleaner hands. One of his last acts in India was to
make over to the Company, in trust for invalided officers
and soldiers, a sum of about £00,000, which Mir Jaffir
had left him in his will.''' In broken health he returned
to England poorer than he had left it, although untold
wealth from many quarters had lain within his reach.
The rest of his Ufe-story is soon told. It was not long
before his foes at the India House renewed their attacks
on a hero, whose worst delinquencies were less intolerable
than the good deeds of his latter years. To the blows he
had struck at official knavery in Bengal, Lord Clive was
mainly indebted for the storm of obloquy and personal
slander, disguised as zeal for the public good, which
embittered, if it did not even hasten, the close of his
eventful life. Every bad act of his countrymen in India,
whether done in his absence or against his express com-
mands, was laid upon his shoulders ; and the founder of
our Indian Empire was held up to popular hatred as a
• Lord Clive's Fund was given up to his heirs a few years ago, after
having done good service for nearly a hundred years.
THE ENGLISH IN BENGAIi, 215
monster of every -vice and crime. The dreadful famine of
1770 in Bengal gave his enemies a fresh plea for venting
their rancorous spite on a nobleman whose friends in
Pai-Hament were growing daUy fewer. But CUve met
their attacks with all his old courage and proud self-
respect. From his place in the House of Commons he
defended himself in a speech which for the moment
silenced his accusers, and won from old Lord Chatham,
who happened to hear it, the tribute of his highest praise.
Before a committee of inquii-y into Indian affairs he
underwent an rmsparing scrutiny into every act of his
pubhc life, claiming credit for the very things which his
questioners sought to prove against him. He had de-
ceived Amin Chand, but in the same circumstances he
would certainly do once more the same thing. He had
taken money from Mir Jaifir ; but what then ? Why
should he feel ashamed of an act which was neither mean
nor wicked ? All things considered, he could only wonder
that he had not taken much more.
At last, in 1772, a vote of censm-e was formally brought
before the House of Commons. Once more Chve spoke
with telling earnestness in his own defence ; and the
Commons, refusing to brand with infamy a name so
worthy to be held in proud remembrance, resolved that
Clive had rendered great and meritorious services to his
country. But their verdict came too late to undo the
effects of iUness aggravated by years of mental anxiety.
In November, 1774, the conqueror of Plassy, who had
already won for his countrymen a kingdom larger and
much more populous than their own, died by his own
hand at the age of forty-nine.
216
CHAPTER n.
EVENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPER INDIA 1761-1775.
The progress of events in Southern India after the fall of
Pondicherry now claims our attention. With the expulsion
of the French from India their English rivals found them-
selves charged with the mihtary defence of the Camatic
on behalf of its nominal ruler, Mohammad Ah. But they
had no money to spare for that purpose, and their spend-
thrift ally had even less. To replenish his own and the
Madras exchequer by making war upon the Eajah of Tan-
jor was Mohammad All's ready thought. But a peaceful
settlement made with the Rajah under Enghsh prompting
enabled the Madras Council to pay their way for that
present, and in time the surplus revenues of the Camatic
passed entirely into their hands.
By the treaty of peace concluded between France and
England in 1763, the factories taken from the French in
India during the late war were given back to them, and
both nations agreed to acknowledge Mohammad Ali as
Nawab of the Camatic, and Salabat Jang as Subadar of
the Dakhan. The latter, however, had been dethroned
a year before by his brother Niziim Ali, who straightway
put him to death as soon as he heard of the treaty. Not
long afterwards the usurping fratricide invaded the Car-
natic, ravaging the country as he passed along, until the
bold front displayed by a small Enghsh column at Tirupatti
compelled him to retrace his steps.
In pursuance of the treaty made by Clive with Shah
Alam, the Madras government in 1766 sent troops to
EVENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPER INDIA. 217
occupy the Northern Sarkars. But Nizam Ali, who had
meanwhile turned his arms agaiust Janoji Bhusla, the
Mai'atha sovereign of Beriir, ill brooked the loss of further
territory ; and the English at Madras had no Clive at
their head. Yielding to the threats of the prince they
had so lately defied, they at length agreed to hold the
ceded province as tributaries of Nizam Ali, and to make
common cause with him against common foes.
One of these foes was Haidar Ali Khan, the Moham-
madan soldier of fortune, whose stout arm and strong will,
backed by a matchless talent for intrigue, had made him
the foremost officer, ere long the self-chosen ruler of the
old Hindu state of Maisor.* For some ten years past he
had fought with varying success against the Marathas, the
Nizam, and the Nawab of the Camatic. But for the
perils which then came near to ovenvhehn him in Maisor,
he would have aided Lally in his last struggles against the
victorious English. A few years later he had overcome
all antagonists at home, had thrown into prison his old
patron and ablest rival Nanjiraj, and dethroned the last
and weakest of the princes who for several centuries had
ruled Maisor. Since then he had carried his arms as
far as Calicut and Bednor, until his growing power pro-
voked the Peshwa Sladhu Rao to make war upon him in
concert with Nizam Ah.
Early in 1767 the Marathas invaded Maisor, and carried
off rich phmder before the Niziim and his English allies
were ready to fulfil their share of the compact. A few
weeks later Colonel Smith, the Enghsh commander, saw
too good reason to mistrust the good faith of his professed
ally. At last the Nizam, who had succeeded in seUing
himself to his late foe, threw ofi' the mask entirely, and
marched with Haidar Ali against Smith, who had with-
* Haidar Naik, as he was first called, was bom in 1702, the son of a
Moghal officer in the Panjab, where Haidar himself served as a naik>
or captain, before he took service with the Rajah of JIaisdr.
218 HISTORY OF INDIA.
drawn his troops from Nizam All's camp. On the
8rd September the alhed armies, reckoned at 70,000 men,
with more than 100 guns, attacked about 7,000 Enghsh
and Sepoys with sixteen guns at Changama in South
Arkot, but were signally defeated with heavy loss. Retiring
to Trinomalli for supplies and reinforcements, the victors,
now 10,000 strong with thirty guns, were again attacked
on the 26th by numbers nearly as great as before ; and
again their stubborn courage and steady discipline drove
their assailants in disorder from the field. On that day
and the next more than 4,000 of the enemy were killed or
wounded, and half their guns taken by the victors, whose
own loss was only 150 men. Ill supported by his ally,
the resolute Haidar stiU kept the field ; but his efforts to
take the fort of Ambiir, on the road from Bangalor to
Madras, were gloriously repulsed by the brave Captain
Culvert, and Smith's timely appearance on the 7th Decem-
ber forced Haidar Ali to raise the siege and withdraw the
bulk of his army into Maisor.
Early in the next year the Nizam's just fears of EngUsh
vengeance were allayed by a treaty which bound him to
help the Madras government in subduing his late ally, on
condition of receiving tribute for the country which his
new friends might conquer for themselves. Nizam Ali on
his side agreed to acknowledge Mohammad AH as ruler of
the Camatic ; and the right of the Company to hold the
Northern Saa-kiirs under the Imperial grant of 1765 was
virtually admitted. Haidar himself was to be treated as
a rebel and an usurper, who ought to be suppressed at any
cost. By this bold if hazardous move against the ruler of
Maisor, the Madras Council committed themselves and
their unwilling masters at home to a deadly struggle T\-ith
the boldest, fiercest, ablest, and most determined foe
whom our arms have ever encountered in Southern India.
Meanwhile the Bombay government had done their best
to cripple Haidar's naval power in the west, by sending
EVENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPER TSDIA. 219
a fleet to take Mangalor and other places on the Malabar
coast. It was not long, however, before the dreaded
Mussulman won back his lost towns, including Man-
galor, whose cowardly commander abandoned a large
number of wounded English and Sepoys to the tender
mercies of a ruthless and embittered foe. On the other
side of his dominions, however, that foe kept losing so
much ground before Colonel Smith's steady advance, that
he was glad ere long to offer terms which the Madi'as
government would have done well to accept. But the
demands of the latter rose with their late successes, until
Haidar, scorning to humble himself any farther, and alive
to every chance of bettering his own position, resolved to
fight on and teach his enemies a lesson of wise forbearance
in the hour of their seeming prosperity.
Before the year's end he had forced Smith to raise the
siege of Bangalor, had defeated the EngUsh under Colonel
Wood, had recovered the distiicts he would have ceded
to the Company, and begun to ravage the borders of the
Camatic with fii-e and sword. Ere long, in spite of
Smith's watchfulness, Haidar's active horsemen outflanked
their opponents, and swept forward in full speed for
Madras. Smith followed them, eager for revenge and
victory; but it was too late. Frightened at Haidar's
sudden appearance within a few miles of their own city,
the Madras Council readily agreed to treat with the foe
whose ofiers they had so lately spurned. Smith was
ordered to halt his troops, whOe Haidar leisurely pro-
ceeded to dictate the terms of a treaty which left him
master of all his former possessions, and bound both parties
to help each other against aU assailants. For this lame
conclusion to their former menaces, the rulers of Madras
excused themselves by pleading want of money to carry on
the war.
About this time the Peshwa of the Marathas had sent
forth a mighty army to levy chauth on the princes of
220 mSTOEY OF INDIA.
Upper India, in the name of a power still bent on retriev-
ing the losses of Panipat. When the Jiits and Eiijputs
had been duly plundered, the invaders swept over Rohil-
khand, but were induced by timely overtures from Shuja-
ud-daula to spare Audh. Masters of Dehli, they invited
Shah Alam thither from his temporaiT capital at Allahabad.
In spite of the warnings of his Enghsh fi-iends, that weak
but ambitious scion of the house of Babar suffered himself
to be escorted into DehU by Maratha sabres, and installed
by his Hindu patrons in the throne of Akbar and
Aurangzib.
But the foohsh Moghal soon began to chafe under the
protection of his new masters, whose little finger was
heavier than the loins of the Nawab-Yizier. lu the latter
part of 1772, when the Marathas were engaged to the
eastward in exacting fresh tribute irom Eohilkhand, the
I\Ioghal Minister, Najaf Khan, was defeated by Tnkaji
Holkar in his attempt to ward off an attack of the Jiits
upon one of the Emperor's feudatories. In vain did Najaf
Ivhan rally his troops for yet another stand before Dehh.
The Moghal capital opened its gates to the victorious
Marathas, and the fickle Emperor made his peace by dis-
owning his brave defender, and yielding up the districts
which Clive a few years before had transferred into his
charge.
But the Enghsh were in no mood to suffer Maratha
aggi-andisement at their own expense. The presence of an
Enghsh force deterred the Marathas from entering the
ceded provinces, which were afterwards handed over to
the Nawab of Audh, from whose chai'ge they had been
wrested by the Enghsh after the battle of Basar. Mean-
while the death of the Peshwa, Madhu Kao, in November,
1772, gave the Maratha general a good excuse for with-
drawing his army, laden with the plunder of many pro-
vinces, across the Narbadha before the middle of 1773.
While one great army had been thus engaged in the
EVENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPER INDIA. 221
north, another, led hy Madhu Kao himself, had struck
some heavy blows at the power of Haidar AJi, in return
for his open defiance of claims pressed under former
treaties. Fort after fort in his eastern provinces feO into
the invaders' hands. A large part of Maisor was ravaged
by clouds of Mai-atha horsemen. Trimbak Miima, who
took over the command from the ailing Peshwa, caught
Haidar at a disadvantage on his retreat towards Seringa-
patam, and nothing but the Maratha gi-eed for plunder
saved Haidar's routed troops from utter annihilation. In
vain did the stout-hearted ruler of Maisor appeal to Madi'as
for the succour which under recent treaties he had per-
haps some right to claim, although he might seem to have
forfeited that right by his wanton invasion of Maratha
ground. The IMadras Council would have given him the
needful aid; but Sir John Lindsay had been sent out
from England as King's envoy to the Com-t of Mohammad
Ali, and the ruler of the Cai-natic would hear of no friendly
movement in behalf of his hard-pressed neighbour. Sir
John himself shared the Nawab's feehng ; and the Council,
hampered by their conflicting duties, abandoned Haidar to
his fate. Before the end of 1771 the turbulent sovereign
of Maisor was glad to obtain peace on conditions which
stripped him of nearly half his kingdom, and saddled
him with the payment of a heavy tribute to the Com-t of
Pima. He never forgave the EngUsh for what he con-
sidered a cowai'dly breach of faith, and his son Tippu took
up the legacy of revenge.
By this time a fit successor to Clive was about to assume
the office which Clive's retirement had left for some years
past in much weaker hands. During those years many
things had gone wi-ong with the East India Company and
its servants in Bengal. In Clive's absence the old abuses
began to crop up again more and more thickly ; the re-
venues, handsome in themselves, were wasted in the col-
lection by all kinds of jobbery and mismanagement ; the
222 HISTOKY OF IXDIA.
people of Bengal suffered from heai-y and unfair exactions
on the part alike of English supervisors and native depu-
ties. Immense grants of land enriched a few native jobbers
at the expense of their English rulers. On the top of all
this broke out the dreadful famine of 1770, when the hus-
bandmen sold their cattle, their farming- tools, their very
sons and daughters for food, when the hving were fain to
eat the dead, when pestilence added its ravages to those
of hunger, and tender women, laying aside all their wonted
privacy, rushed forth unveiled into the streets to beg a
handful of rice for their starving children. More than a
third of the people in Bengal are reckoned to have died of
famine or disease, and for years to come large tracts of
once fertile country lay waste or overgrown with rank
jungle.* From these and such like causes it happened
that the Company was already deep in debt, at the very
moment when its directors were declaring dividends of sis
per cent, on the half-year.
Conscious of the dangers that beset them in India, and
frightened at the outcry waxing loud against them at
home, the Court of Directors at length announced their
resolve " to stand forth as Dewan, and to take on them-
selves the entire care and management of the revenues
thi-ough the agency of their own servants." Hitherto the
government of Bengal in all its branches had been carried
on mainly through native officers, most of whom had
wofully abused their powers. To the strong hands of
Warren Hastings was now entrusted the execution of the
desired reforms. That great, if sometimes erring states-
man, had first gone out to India at the age of eighteen.
Seven yeai's later, in 1757, his talents had won the notice
of the hero of Plassy, who placed him in the difficult post
of Resident at the Court of Murshidabad. In 1760 he
rose to be a member of the Calcutta Council, where his
• Hunter's "Annals of Rural Bengal"; Macanlay's "Essay on Lord
Clive " ; Girdlestone's " Report on Past Famines," ic.
EVESTS IK SOUTHERN AXD UPPER INDIA. 223
great abilities and his upright dealings stood out in sharp
relief against the shortcomings of profligate or blundering
colleagues. Returning to England in 1764, -n-ith a good
name and a purse but poorly stocked, he went out again
five years later as second Member of Council at Madras.
"While he was doing his best there to retrieve the financial
disorders consequent on the war with Haidar and the
spendthrift rule of Mohammad Ali, he found himself ap-
pointed President of the Calcutta Council ; and in April,
1772, Wan-en Hastings took charge of the post with which
his name was to become inseparably linked for praise or
blame in the minds of his countrymen at large.
The new Governor of Fort William lost no time in car-
rying out the orders he had received from home. It was
to him a painful but necessary duty to begin by dealing
harshly with Mohammad Reza Khan, the Mussulman
Governor of Bengal, and with his Hindu helpmate, Rajah
Shitab Rai, who had fought like a Rajput hero under
Captain Knox twelve years before, in the memorable rout
of Shah Alam, under the walls of Patna. Both these
nobles were removed from office, and afterwards brought
to trial for alleged misdeeds which their accusers wholly
failed to prove. Both, in due time, were formally ac-
quitted, the Hindu with especial honour and every token
of regret for the wrong unwittingly done him. But
nothing could heal the wound inflicted on his self-respect,
and the most loyal friend to the Enghsh in India died ere
long of a broken heart.
His chief foe, however, the wily Xrind Kumar, gained
nothing by his unsparing efforts to supplant his worthier
rivals. The powers which Hastings took out of their
hands were not to be entrusted again to native overseers.
Thenceforth the real government of Bengal and Bahar was
handed over to the acknowledged servants of the Company.
The seat of rule was finally transferred, with the Treasury
and the Courts of Justice, from Murshidabad to Calcutta.
224
HISTORY OF INDIA.
The little Nawiib himself was to retain nothing of liis
father's crippled sovereignty, save the name and social
state of Nawab. A son of Nand Kumar was appointed
treasurer of his household. The courts of civil and crimi-
ZAMINDAR, DAGAR TRIBE.
nal justice in each district were placed under the charge of
English officers ; and com-ts of appeal were estabhshed in
Calcutta, under regulations drawn up for their guidance by
the clear-headed governor himself.
Hand-in-hand with these reforms proceeded the task of
EVENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPER INDIA. 225
settling the revenues of the country. After a close but
often baffling search into the rights of existing Za-
mindars or land-holders, the land of Bengal was farmed
out to the highest bidders, by way of experiment, for five
j'ears.* In keeping with the immemorial usage of the
country, with the practice ahke of Hindu and Moham-
madan rulers, Hastings looked to the land revenue as the
mainstay of his new fiscal system. Several taxes which
bore hard on the people, or yielded little to the Treasury,
were abohshed. In each district an English collector,
aided by a staff of native officers, was appointed to collect
the revenue, to settle all disputes between land-holders and
tenants, to protect the Rayats or husbandmen from the
extortions of Zamindars and native underlings, and to use
his best eflbrts in furthering the trade and industry of his
own district. To each group of districts was assigned its
own commissioner, who travelled about the country as
overseer or controller, and sent in his reports to a central
board of revenue sitting in Calcutta.
While the new governor was thus engaged in Bengal,
the process of reform was being applied by Parhament to
his masters' affairs at home. The Select Committee of
1772 issued a report which became the groundwork of
the Eegulating Act, passed in the following year by the
ministry of Lord North. An important change ia the
terms of admission into the Company and of election to
the Court of Directors, reduced the number of stockholders
greatly for the better,! and secured to each director four
years of office at a time. The Governor of Fort WiUiam
became Governor-General of India, with a salary of
£25,000 a-year ; and four Members of Council, whose
joint salaries amounted to £40,000 a-year, were to aid or
check his movements. A Chief Justice and three puisne
* Kaye's "Administration of the East India Company," part ii.
chap. 2.
t The qualification for a, Proprietor was raised from £500 to £1,000.
226 HISTORY OF INDIA.
judges, appointed by the Crown, were to form a Supreme
Court of Judicature, wielding large but ill-defined powers
over all persons except the Governor-General and his
Council. The clamours of the Company against these
inroads on their chartered rights were partly allayed by a
loan of a miUion sterUng from the Royal Exchequer ; but
the thin end of the wedge had been fairly driven into the
fabric of their rule.
Meanwhile Hastings, urged by an empty treasury and
the prayers of the Directors for more money, had been
doing his best to set things financially straight in Bengal.
The tribute to Shah Alam, a quarter of a nuUion sterling,
was no longer paid. For twice that sum he agreed to
make over to the Nawab-Yizier of Audh the districts of
Korah and Allahabad. For another large sum he agreed
to lend the ambitious Shuja-ud-daula a body of Enghsh
and native troops to aid in the conquest of Rohilkhand.
His policy in this matter has often been denounced, by
none more eloquently than Macaulay himself. But Hast-
ings, handling the question as a statesman and a financier,
paid small regard to the sentimental claims afterwards
pleaded in behalf of a race of Pathan nobles too weak to
bar out the Mai-athas, and too turbulent to keep the peace
among themselves. He knew that their leader, Hafiz
Rahmat Khan, owed Shuja-ud-daula, for help given against
the Mai-iithas, a sum which he could not or would not pay.
He knew that the Moghal emperor had bestowed on our
good friend, the Xawab- Vizier, the government of a pro-
vince which a predecessor of Hafiz Rahmat had wrested
from a Moghal emperor thirty years before. He knew
that Lis own masters were sadly in want of money, that
the troops lent out to a useful neighbour would cost his
own treasury nothing in the meantime, and that a sure
way of keeping the peace in Bengal was to be found in the
maintenance of a strong government on its northern fron-
tier. As for the bulk of the people in Rohilkhand, it was
EVENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPEE INDIA. 227
not likely that they would lose on the whole by a change
of masters which bade fair to rescue them alike from in-
ternal troubles and foreign raids.
In accordance with these views an Enghsh force under
Colonel Champion marched into the doomed province.
On the 23rd AprO, 1774, his little army had to bear the
brimt of a hard fight against 40,000 KohUlas, led by Hafiz
Rahmat himself. In spite of these odds, enhanced by the
cowardice of their allies, the EngKsh won the day, leaving
2,000 RohiUas with their brave leader dead or dying on
the field. Bitterly did Colonel Champion inveigh against
those " banditti," the men of Audh, who looked on at the
fight from a safe distance and then hastened to plunder
the enemy's camp. This victory sealed the doom of the
Rohilla Pathans. FaizuUa Khan indeed retained his
father's fief of Rampnr as the price of his timely submis-
sion to the Nawab-Yizier ; * but some 20,000 of his
countrymen were driven out of the conquered province.
It is certain, however, that the mass of the people in
Rohilkhand, mostly of Hindu descent, suffered neither in
purse nor person from the downfiiU of their late masters ;
and the stories of their cruel fate, as afterwards raked up
in England by private and pohtical foes of the great
Gorernor-General, were httle better than idle tales. f
Had Hastings been left free to pm-sue his own plans
for the better government of Bengal and the safeguai-ding
of its frontiers, some dark passages in the history of this
period might have remained unwritten. But with the
landing of the new councillors in October, 1774, his
powers of independent action were to be sadly crippled by
the malice or the misconceptions of men who combined
to outvote him at every turn. Of the four members of his
* His descendants still liold their piace as Kawaba of Rampnr.
(Keene's '' Moghal Empire.")
f ■■ The Hindu inhabitants, aboat TOO.OM, were in no way affected,"
n-rites Captain Hamilton in his " History of the Eohilla Afghans,"
founded on the works of Rohilla historiana,
q2
'ZJia HISTOBY OF INDIA.
remodelled Council one only, Mr. Barwell, took the part
of Hastings against a majority led by Philip Francis, one
of the ablest, fiercest, wrongest-headed, most rancorous
statesmen of his day. True to the character pourtrayed
by himself in his own " Letters of Junius " — those master-
pieces of spiteful satire clothed in powerful English —
Francis set himself at once to the congenial task of hamper-
ing the ruler whom he had already learned to hate.
Under the guise of patriotism, of upright scorn for wrong-
doing, he gave full vent to the workings of a narrow mind
and a thoroughly malignant heart ; and in such a cUmate
as that of Calcutta the natural sourness of his temper was
pretty sure to derive fresh poison from the fierce summer
heats.
His evil influence soon began to bear fmit. The Go-
vernor-General's agent at the Court of Shuja-ud-daula was
replaced by another of his own choosing. In spite of
Hastings' remonstrances, the English brigade was recalled
from Kohilkhand. On the death of the Nawab-Vizier his
successor, Asaf-ud-daula, was forced to make over the
district of Banaras to his EngUsh aUies, and to pay a
larger subsidy for the use of his borrowed Sepoys. Francis
and his friends in the Council thwarted and overrode
Hastings at every tm-n. They interfered with a high hand
in the affairs of Bombay and Madras ; their meddling
fingers left unseemly marks on the government of Bengal
itself. They Ustened with greedy ears to every charge
which the enemies of Hastings were but too ready to
bring against a governor fallen into manifest disgrace. In
India it is always easy to complete the ruin of dishonoured
greatness by means of false witnesses and forged papers ;
and the friends of Francis in the Calcutta Council became
ready dupes of all who owed Hastings a grudge or deemed
it politic to win the favour of his opponents.
Foremost among the crows who hastened to peck at
that wounded vulture was the wily Hindu Nand Kumar.
EVENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPER INDIA. 229
He had never forgiven Hastings for cheating him of his
hoped-for succession to the post of Mohammad Reza
Khan, and now it seemed as if the hour for his revenge
had struck at last. This man, a master of intrigue and
falsehood, openly charged the Governor- General with
having taken bribes from the widow of Mir Jiiffir, from
Mohammad Reza Khan, and several others. In the
CouncU he found a ready hearing. Scorning to defend
himself against such a man before such a court, Hastings
left the council-room, followed by his friend BarweU.
But Francis and the other two voted themselves a council,
went into the charges put forth by Nand Kumar, and
declared Hastings guilty of having amassed no less than
forty lakhs of rupees — £400,000 — in two years and a-half
by all kinds of underhand means.*
For a moment Nand Kumar could revel in the sweetness
of gratified revenge. Courted by many of his own country-
men, and strong in the support of Francis and his English
partisans, he Uttle knew what an undercurrent of disaster
was about to drag him down into its lowest depths.
Scorning defeat at the hands of such a foe, Hastings turned
for help to the Supreme Court. A charge of false swearing
and conspiracy was lodged against the villanous Brahman.
While the trial was yet pending one Mohan Prasad renewed
on his own account an old action for forgery against the
Rajah, who had once been saved from impending danger
by the timely intervention of Hastings himself. The case
thus suspended a few years before was now transferred to
the Supreme Court. Convicted on the clearest evidence,
Nand Kumar was condemned to death in accordance with
the law which Sir Elijah Impey and his brother judges
were bound to administer.
It was not the first time that a native of India had been
doomed to the same punishment for the same offence.
* The whole charge was afterwards proved to be a wUfal falsehood,
founded on letters forged by Nand Ktim^r himself.
230 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Ten years before a Hindu of rank had only escaped
banging by a timely reprieve * ; but since then at least
two natives had been less fortunate. With the arraign-
ment of the guilty Rajah, Hastings had notliing whatever
to do ; stiU less, if possible, -ndth his execution. He had
been fairly tried before an Enghsh jury, and all four
judges had concurred in dooming him to a felon's death.
From that fate neither Francis nor his colleagues made
any effort to save the prisoner. No prayer for respite
was presented by any of the prisoner's friends, native or
Enghsh, to the Supreme Court. One petition, indeed,
was forwarded by Nand Kumar himself to General Claver-
ing of the Supreme Council ; but that petition was first
presented at the Council Board eleven days after the
writer's death, and Francis it was who proposed to have
it burned as a libel by the hands of the common hang-
man.
On the morning of the 5th August, 1775, Nand Kumar
underwent the doom which, as a British subject amenable
to the stern English law of that day, he had richly
deserved. The most brilliant of Enghsh essayists has
drawn a powerful pictiu-e of the horror, grief, dismay,
which the hanging of so eminent a Brahman, for an
ofl'ence in native eyes so venial, produced upon the minds
of his countrymen in Calcutta and elsewhere. Blore than
one historian of British India has dressed up in his ovra
words the lurid fiction which Francis was the fu-st to
circulate many years after the event. In plain truth,
however, the sentence of the law was cai-ried out before
spectators moved far more by curiosity than concern.
Of the Hindus who thronged at the gallows' foot few
gave any signs of wild excitement. No loud shriek of
horror and despair went up to heaven from the gathered
* "Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey," by his Son, pp. 99 and 299, 4c.
The reprieve of Kadachand Mithra had been owing to the fact that he
was the first Hindu condemned for forgery under English law.
EVENTS IN SOUTHERN AND UPPER INDIA. 231
mass ; but au audible hum of satisfaction went round tbe
Jlobammadans as tbe drop fell upon " tbe worst man in
India," tbe peijured persecutor of Mobammad Reza Ivban.
As for tbe alleged rusb of sorrowing Hindus to wash out
tbe pollution of witnessing sucb a sigbt in tbe sacred
Hugbb, it was simply a natural movement from tbe scene
of a tragedy already complete to tbe wonted bathing-ghats
of a river that rolled hard by.*
* It is a pity that Macaulay's splendid essay on Warren Hastings
should have been marred by his rash adoption of the slanders cir-
culated by Sir Philip Francis against both Hastings and Sir Elijah
Impey. The whole stoiy of Nand Kumar's trial and execution, as
told in his pages, betrays a curious want of insight into the character
of Francis, a perverse blindness to the legal questions involved in the
case, and an unaccountable ignorance of the documents whence
Mr. Impey drew the means of clearing not only his own father but
Hastings himself from the groundless inventions of a spiteful partisan.
CHAPTER m.
WAEKEN HASTINGS 1775-1786.
The troubles of Hastings were not over with the death of
Nand Kumar. His wiser policy was thwarted at every
turn by the mischievons meddling of Francis and his
partisans. In Audh their chosen agent, Bristow, sup-
ported the ladies of the late Nawab's household in their
seemingly unfounded claim to all the treasure, about two
miUions sterUng, which Shuja-ud-daula had left behind
him. In spite of his own empty treasury, of his growing
debts to the Bengal Government, and of the Governor-
General's earnest remonstrances, the new Nawab- Vizier
was compelled to forego his just share of the property in
dispute. A fearful mutiny among his unpaid troops, quelled
at last with heavy loss of life, was the naturaJ, if sad re-
sult of the measures sanctioned by the Calcutta Council.
Nor was the outlook for Hastings much brighter else-
where. If he had many friends both in India and in
England, the Prime Minister, Lord North, and a majority
in the Court of Directors sided with his opponents in the
Bengal Council. His measures were condemned by the
Directors, who, under Lord North's prompting, sought to
remove him from his post ; but the Court of Proprietors
flocked to his support, and quashed, by a large majority,
the vote of their own directors. Thus encouraged, Hastings
struggled on at his thankless task. At last, in September,
1776, the death of Colonel Monson gave him the casting
vote in his own council. Once more he found himself
WAKREN HASTINGS,
283
free to govern in his own way, tmcliecked by the ignorance
or the malice of inferior men.
But a new danger ere long confronted him. During the
previous troubles he had lodged with Colonel Maclean a
conditional offer to resign his post. This offer, in spite of
its subsequent withdrawal, the Directors chose to accept as
final, and Mr. Wheeler was ordered out to replace him.
Before his arrival the senior member of council. General
Clavering, had installed himself as acting Governor-General,
and commanded the troops in Fort William to obey no
other orders than his own. Francis, of course, was ready
to follow up any blow aimed at his hated rival. But
Hastings had no mind to throw up a doubtful game. His
own orders to the troops were cheerfully obeyed. Colonel
Morgan at once closed the gates of Fort Wilham against
Clavering. A like answer came from Barrackpore. An
appeal made by Hastings to the Supreme Court clinched
the defeat of his opponents. Impey and his fellow judges
ruled that Clavering had no power to assume an oiEce
which Hastings had not yet formally resigned. The
General and his followers had the wisdom to accept the
award, and Hastings, who had promised to accept it for
worse or better, at once withdrew from all further action
against his defeated colleague.*
Two months afterwards Clavering died, and Wheeler,
who had gone out to replace Monson, usually voted with
Francis against the Governor-General. Hastings, how-
ever, had still the casting vote, and the gallant Sir Eyre
Coote, who presently took his seat in council as successor
to Clavering in the chief command of the troops, gave
small encouragement to the factious Francis.
During the lull which followed this passing squall,
Hastings carried on the work of government with a firm
and skUfnl hand. Before the last settlement of the land
* See letter from Sir E. Impey, quoted by his son. " Memoirs,"
pp. 162—5.
23i HISTORY OF INDLi.
revenue expired in 1777, he had sent out commissioners
to collect the means of renewing it in a hetter form, with
especial regard for the just claims of the Kayats or husband-
men to protection from the demands of encroaching or
needy Zamindars. The latter also were to be assessed
at a lighter rate, for many of them had suffered heavily
under the assessments of 1772. For the next four years
the revised leases were renewed yearly, with such cor-
rections as policy or justice might demand. Meanwhile
the enemies of Hastings at home still found fault with
everything he did or planned ; but in spite of all theii-
railings, the services of such a ruler were not to be lightly
dispensed with at a time when England, hard pressed by
a war with her American colonies and threatened on all
sides by European foes, had special need of all her
ablest men. At the end of his term of oifice in 1778,
Hastings found himself reappointed for another five
years.
At that time a new danger was met by the dauntless
Viceroy with his usual readiness of resource. In 1775
the Bombay Government had somewhat rashly pledged
itself to uphold the cause of Ragoba, the erewhile con-
queror of Labor and sometime prisoner of his nephew
Madhu Rao, against a rival claimant to the headship of
the Maratha League. On the mm-der of Madhu's brother,
the young and promising Xai-ain Rao, in 1772, his restless
uncle and suspected mui-derer, Ragoba, had declared him-
self Pt'shwa, while another party headed by the able
Brahman Minister, Nana Famawis, set up an infant son
of Miidhu Rao on the throne of his murdered uncle
Narain Rao. The Maratha leaders took diflerent sides ac-
cording as their interests or jealousies might lead them.
Ragoba turned for help to the EngUsh at Bombay, who
were nothing loath to turn his needs to their own advan-
tage. Without consulting the Government of Bengal,
they agreed to help him with a body of troops in return for
WARKEN HASTINGS. 235
the cession of Salsette and Bassein, an island and a port
near Bombay itself, and for a handsome yearly payment
to the Bombay Treasury. Colonel Keating led his troops
into the Maratha country, routed an army ten-fold stronger
than his own at Arras, near Baroda, and drove the enemy
across the Narbadha, while a heavy defeat was inflicted on
the Marathas by sea.
If Hastings condemned the Treaty of Surat as an im-
politic measure which he had never sanctioned, he was not
for rashly setting it aside in the face of these successes.
But in these days the pai-ty of Francis had its own way in
the Bengal Council ; and the Bombay Government was
ordered to withdi-aw all its troops forthv,-ith. Colonel
Upton was sent from Calcutta to imdo the work so pro-
misingly begun. But the insolence of the Pima Regency
had well-nigh renewed the war, when Nana Farnawis at
length accepted the compromise offered by the EngUsh
envoy. By the Treaty of Puranda the English retained
possession of Salsette, which they had already won ; their
claim on the revenues of Baroch was also acknowledged ;
but the rest of their agi-eement with Ragoba was fonnally
annulled, in return for a pension allotted by the Pima
Government to then- late ally.
New causes of quaiTel, however, soon arose. A des-
patch from the Court of Directors confirmed the former
treaty with Ragoba. Neither at Bombay nor Pima was
the new treaty carefully observed. From mutual bicker-
ings the quarrel proceeded to words and acts of mutual
defiance. Sm"at was occupied by troops from Bombay.
Ragoba himself was welcomed to the former city as an
honoured guest. On the other hand, a French adventurer
was received at Pima with open arms as an accredited
envoy from the King of France, who was just on the point
of declaring war- with England. Hastings also was now
free to act according to his own judgment ; and the timely
secession of Sakharam Bapu from the Pima Regency
236 HISTORY OF INDIA.
furnished a new plea for returning to the policy always
favoured at Bombay.
At length, in the cold season of 1778, an English force
took the field from the western capital, while a Bengal
column under the skilful Colonel Goddard pushed on
through Bundalkhand and Malwa, to cross the Narbadha
before the close of the year. Meanwhile the Nana had
struck some hard blows at his Maratha assailants ; and
Ragoba's prospects were already darkening when Colonel
Egerton advanced towards Piina across the Ghats. They
were now to become still darker. At Taligaon, within a
forced march of Puna itself, a strange panic beset the
Commissioner, Mr. Carnac, whose powers entirely over-
ruled those of the English commanders. The order for
retreat was given, the guns were hastily thi-own into a
pond, and nothing but the cool courage of Captain Hartley
and his rear-guard of Sepoys saved the whole force from
annihilation at the hands of an enemy who had hitherto
shrunk from barring its advance. Two days later, on the
13th January, 1779, the English leaders crowned their
disgrace by bargaining for a safe retreat for an army
which under better handling might have borne Eagoba in
triumph to the Maratha capital.
A new gleam of hope, however, was soon to shine for
that luckless prince. Neither at Bombay nor Calcutta
was any respect shown for the disgraceful Convention of
Worgaom. Its English authors were dismissed the Com-
pany's service. Colonel Goddard brought his troops in
safety to Surat. His proposals for a fresh treaty falling
through, he took the field at the beginning of 1780,
captured among other places Ahmadabad, the stately
capital of Gujarat, and twice defeated the Maratha troops
of Sindia and Holkar. The gallant Hartley pushed his
way in the Kiinkan. Meanwhile, another Bengal column
under the daring Major Popham, which had been sent by
Hastings across the Jamna, drove Sindia's Marathas before
WABREN HASTINGS. 237
them, stormed the fort of Lahor, and carried by a well-
planned escalade the formidable rock-fortress of Gwalior,
which Coote himself had deemed it madness to attack.*
Before the year's end Bassein had surrendered to God-
dard, and the dashing Hartley crowned his former exploits
by signally defeating 20,000 Marathas who had been
pressing him hard for two days.
These successes were followed by the surprise and rout
of Sindia,t in Mai'ch, 1781, at the hands of Popham's
successor, Colonel Camac. On the west, however, God-
dard was less fortunate. A mighty gathering of the
Maiatha hosts baiTed his way to Piina from the top of the
Ghats and went near to cut off his retreat. To advance
was hopeless, to stand still was httle better. It only
remained for him to attempt a hazardous retreat before
60,000 pursuers, keen for his destruction. Thanks to
their own courage and their leader's skill, his troops suc-
ceeded in the attempt, but not without paying dearly for
their success.
By this time, however, evil tidings had come to Hastings
from Madras. Ever since their rejection of his prayers
for help against the Marathas, Haidar Ali had been nursing
his revenge against the English. For some years, how-
ever, he contented himself with trying to repair his crip-
pled fortunes at evei-y turn. Before the end of 1772 he
had subdued the brave highlanders of Kiirg, himdreds of
whom were murdered by his orders in cold blood. In
little more than a year later he had made good all his
former losses, and before the end of 1776 new provinces
had been added to his widening frontier. Two years later
his northern frontier had been pushed up to the Kistna.
Meanwhile Haidar's fear of the Marathas had tempted
* It was taken by Captain Bruce and twenty Sepoys.
f Mahdaji Sindia, a younger son of Ranoji Sindia, had escaped, with
a wound which lamed him for life, from the rout of Panipat, to become
the head of the house of Sindia.
238 HISTORY OF DTDIA.
him more than once to renew his overtures to the English
at Madras. But the latter, taken np with their own
schemes, quarrels, and perplexities, paid little heed to the
advances of a neighbour whose power for mischief they
underrated, or whose friendliness they would not trust.
Balked by the home government in their unjust designs on
Tanjor, overruled continually by orders from Calcutta,
hampered by their relations with theNawab of the Camatic,
and pressed by a chronic want of funds, the Madras Coun-
cil filled up the measure of their weakness by reckless
quarrelling among themselves. One governor was sent
home in disgi-ace ; another. Lord Pigot, was held prisoner
by his colleagues for several months; and his successor,
Sir Thomas Rumbold, became fi-om the first a mark for
the many slanders which were destined low to sm-vive
him.
Hardly had Rumbold taken up his office, when he
learned that war had aheady broken out between France
and England. This became the signal for a prompt attack
on the few places still held by the French in Southern
India. With the fall of Pondicherry in October, 1778,
Mahe alone, a town on the western coast, remained in
French hands. In the following March, Mahe also fell to
our arms, and very wroth thereat was Haidar Ali, some
of whose troops had aided in the defence. His ano-er at
the blow thus dealt to his secret friends was increased bv
the march of English troops through his newly conquered
province of Kai-pa into the Gantiir district, which Niziim
All's brother Basalat Jang had lately rented to the govern-
ment of Madras.* Now, if ever, had come the time to
drive his old enemies into the sea. His own army,
90,000 strong, well-equipped, and trained by French
officers, might alone suffice for that purpose. Backed by
the hosts of Nizam Ali and Nana Farnawis, its shock
would be irresistible.
* Hiiidar had long marked out Gantur for himself.
WAKREN HASTINGS. 239
A willing listener to a tempting offer did the envoy from
Puna find in the fierce old sovereign of Maisor. If Haidar
loved the Manithas little more than the EngUsh, he had
no objection to make use of either for his own ends.
Turning a deaf ear to the counter offers now made by Sir
Thomas Rumbold, he prepared, in his seventy-eighth year,
for a campaign which might end in leaving him master of
all Southern India. Happily for us at this critical moment,
Nizam All's quarrel with his Enghsh neighbours, regarding
the tribute claimed from them for the Northern Sarkars,
was allayed by the timely interference of the Governor-
General, enforced perhaps by his own fears of the danger
involved in furthering the secret schemes of so ambitious
a plotter as the Sultan of Maisor.*
If Humbold was dimly aware of coming danger, neither
his own councillors nor Hastings himself, at the beginning
of 1780, seems to have guessed how near and terrible that
danger was.t Sir Hector Munro himself, as head of the
Madras army, made no effort to meet the storm whose
warning murmurs already filled the air. In every mosque
and pagoda of Maisor Haidar's agents were busy preaching
a Jihad or holy war against the infidels from the West.
At length, in July 1780, the hosts of Maisor poui-ed like a
lava-flood thi-ough their mountain-passes over the Carnatic;
their progress marked by burning villages, whose smoke
ere long became clearly visible to scared spectators from
the heights near Madras.
To meet this formidable inroad. Sir Hector Munro, with
about five thousand men, set out from Conjeveram, while
Colonel BaiUie had to lead about half that number round
» It was given out that Haidar had obtained from the puppet
Emperor of Dehli a formal grant of sovereignty over all the Nizam's
dominions.
t In reply to Rnmbold's warnings, Hastings declared himself " con-
vinced, from Hyder's conduct and disposition, that he will never molest
ns while we preserve a good understanding with him." See Marsh-
man's " India," vol. i.. Appendix.
240 HISTORY OF INDIA.
from Gantiir. Precious days were lost to the latter by a
sadden flood ; and on the 6th September, when he was
only a long day's march from Conjeveram, his little force
was fiercely attacked by Tippu, the brave son of Haidar.
A timely reinforcement, under Colonel Fletcher, enabled
Baillie to press onwards until the 9th, when only two
or three mDes divided him from Munro. But between
them lay the bulk of Haidar's army, and next morning
Bailhe saw himself beset on all sides by overwhelming
odds. All that day his men fought on under every dis-
advantage, vainly hoping for the help that never came.
The victor of Baxar proved utterly false to his old renown.
Unmoved by the sounds of the heavy firing which was
dealing havoc in his subaltern's ranks, Munro never
budged an inch to rescue him. At last, in despair of
maintaining a hopeless struggle, BaiUie surrendered, and
thi'ee hundred English soldiers, the feeble remnant of his
shattered force, laid down their arms. But for the timely
interference of Haidar's French officers, even these, in
spite of their surrender, would have all been butchered
where they stood. As it turned out, few of them were
destined to survive the wasting effects of wounds, sickness,
and prolonged Ul-treatment in the noisome prisons of
Maisor.*
Munro himself, who seems to have been paralysed by the
impending failure of supplies for his own army, fell back
at once to Conjeveram. Thence, after throwing his heavy
guns into a tank, and sacrificing much baggage, he hurried
off in quest of supplies to Chinghpat. Disappointed there
also, he retreated on the lith September to St. Thomas's
Mount, near Madi-as, leaving Haidar to waste the Camatic
at his leisure, and to biing the siege of Arkot to a suc-
cessful close.
When tidings of these disasters reached Calcutta,
* Out of Baillie's eighty-six officers, thirty-six were slain or mortally
wounded, and only sixteen surrendered without a wound.
WARKEN HASTINGS. 211
Hastings met the occasion with his wonted fearlessness.
A fresh quarrel with his old enemy Francis, who had
broken his pledge to oppose none of Hastings' larger
measures after the return home of Mr. Bai-weU, had just
issued in a duel, fi'om which Francis bore ofl' a wound that
did not tend to improve his temper. Backed, however,
by Sir Eyre Coote, Hastings kept the upper hand in his
Council. Not a moment did he now lose in developing
his own plans for the salvation of Madras at any cost. Sir
Eyre Coote, with a choice array of Bengal troops, was at
once despatched to the scene of danger in supersession of
Monro. The acting Governor of Madras was removed
from his post. Even the Company's remittances to Eng-
land were held back for the better carrjing on of war
against Haidar AH.
Ai-rived at Madras, Clive's old comrade hurried off to
the reUef of "Wandiwash, the scene of his former victory
over Lally. The news of his approach frightened the
enemy away from a place which Lieutenant Flint, with the
aid of a hundred men, had been defending with the courage
of a second Clive. The rehef of Chinghpat and the capture
of Karangali had marked the fii'st stages of Coote's advance.
Coote's repulse in June before Chillambram encouraged
Haidar to make a dash on Ivadalor, while Coote was
resting his troops at Porto Novo. But the fiery veteran
made haste to grapple with his powerful opponent, and on
the 1st July his eight thousand mea hurled themselves
against ten times their number with a force that nothing
could long withstand. After six hours' fighting the enemy-
fled, leaving ten thousand on the field, while Coote's loss
amounted only to thi'ee hundred, so well had his guns
been served.
Again the two anaies came together in August near the
scene of Baillie's great disaster ; but this time the victory
was less complete. On the 27th September, however,
Haidar was utterly defeated at ShoUmgarh, with the loss
R
212 niSTORY OF INDIA,
of five tbousauil meu. By this time Lord Macartno_y, the
new Governor of Madras, was preparing another force for
the capture of the Dutch possessions in Southern India ;
Holland also having been added to the number of our foes.
The fall of Negapatam in November was followed in
January of the next year by the capture of Trincomalee,
in the neighbouring island of Ceylon.
Before Coote took the field again, Mohammad All, the
worthless ruler of the Camatic, had been forced to make
over to the Company for five years the revenues he had
hitherto squandered on himself, while the men who fought
for him were in perpetual risk of starving. Thenceforth
the movements of our troops would not be hampered by
the want of those suppUes which the Nawab bad so often
failed to furnish at the right moment.
In the beginnmg of 1782 Coote hastened to the relief of
VeUor, which, but for his timely movement, must soon
have fallen into Haidar's clutches. A few days later the
arrival of succours from Bombay enabled Major Abingdon,
the bold defender of Talicharri, in Malabar, to rout the
army which had vainly besieged him for eighteen months.
Calicut, on the same coast, next fell to the English arms.
But these successes were soon to be balanced by failures
and mishaps elsewhere. Forty thousand of Tippu's soldiers
fell upon Colonel Braithwaite's Httle force of two thousand
men — nearly all Sepoys — in Tanjor ; and after a fight,
prolonged with matchless heroism, for twenty-six hours,
the wasted remnants of Braithwaite's band were saved
from utter extinction only by the generous efibrts of
Tippu's French allies. French fleets appeared from time
to time on the Madras coast, to be encountered with small
result by English admirals. Kadalor was taken at last
with the help of Suffi-ein's sailors, and Admiral Hughes
was too late to save Trincomalee. K Coote's dashing energy
once more rescued Wandiwash, and dealt Tippn another
defeat at Ai-ni, his movement against Kadalor failed for
WARREN HASTINGS. 243
want of timely succour from the fleet ; and the close of that
year saw him trying to recruit his shattered health in Bengal.
What with the desolation of the Carnatic, the famine raging
around Madras, the daily expected landing of French
troops led by the renowned Bussy himself, the losses
caused to EngUsh shipping by gales on the eastern coast,
and Humberstone's retreat before Haidar on the Bombay
side, the outlook for our countrj-men in Southern India at
the end of 1782 was almost as dark as ever.
One gleam, however, brightened it even then. On the
7th December Haidar Ali died at the great age of eighty,
worn out by an illness which had never kept him from
sharing like a common trooper in the toils of the past
campaign. EarUer in the same year Hastings had suc-
ceeded in detaching the last of the Maratha leaders from
their alliance with the Sultan of Maisor. The fii-st to
make peace with him was the Eajah of Berar, who, eai'ly
in 1781, had sanctioned the march of a Bengal brigade
thi'ough Orissa towards Madras.* His example was fol-
lowed by Sindia, after his defeat by Colonel Carnac ;
and at length, in May, 1782, was concluded the Treaty of
Salbai, which left Maisor to fight on single-handed against
the Enghsh power. By this treaty Sindia regained his
lost possessions, all but Gwalior, besides new territory
about Bai'och ; the Gaikwar of Gujai'at became an inde-
pendent piince ; Ragoba was to retire into private life on
a handsome pension ; and Bassein, with some other dis-
tricts, was surrendered to Nana Farnawis as regent for the
young Peshwa. It was not, however, till after Haidar's
death that the Nana set his seal to a compact which
further bound him to aid in rescuing the Carnatic from
the yoke of Maisor.
The news of his father's deat^i brought Tippn back for
a time from the western coast to his own capital, to
* This brigade suffered heavily on its march from cholera, the
disease which has since become endemic in many parts of India,
r2
244 HISTORY OF INDIA.
make sure of his succession to the vacant throne. Ere
long death relieved him of his stoutest foe, the war-worn
Cooto, who barely hved to reach Madras once more. In
April, 1783, Bussy himself landed on the eastern coast
and led his Frenchmen to the defence of Kadalor. By
that time, however, Tippu was far away to the westward,
opening his batteries on the hill-fort of Bednor, held by
some of the troops whose valour had hewn a way for
General Matthews into the highlands of Maisor. After a
brave defence, Bednor was surrendered a heap of ruins,
and its luckless garrison, in breach of Tippu's pledged
word, marched off in irons to the neighbouring fortresses.
Yet more protracted was the defence of Mangalor by
Colonel Campbell. At last, however, the wasted garrison,
cheated of the suppHes assm-ed to them under an armistice,
were fortunate in being allowed to march out with all the
honours of war at the end of January, 1784.
Meanwhile neither Bussy nor General Stuart had made
much progress in the Camatic. Two saUies ordered by
Bussy from Kadalor were repulsed with heavy loss.*
The fleets of Hughes and Suffrein fought and parted
without result. At length came tidings of peace between
France and England, when all hostile movements on either
side were staid by mutual agreement, and the French
officers in Tippu's army left him to carry on the war
alone.
By this time another British force under Colonel Fullarton
was steadily advancing into the highlands of Maisor. Be-
fore him lay the road to Seringapatam, and a fair chance of
finishing the war by a few bold sti'okes. But the Governor
of Madras, unheeding the counsel and the commands of
Hastings, stooped to sue for the peace which Fullarton was
eager to dictate under the walls of Tippu's capitivl. That
brave officer was ordered to fall back, in compUance with a
* In one of these actions Serge.%nt Bernadotte, the future King of
Sweden, was taken prisoner by the English,
W.iRRES HASTINGS. 245
truce which Tippu was openly breaking. Lord Macartney's
messengers were received with studied insolence by a
monarch bent on turning then- master's folly to his own
profit. Not till Mangalor had fallen into his hands did the
wily Sultan deign to consider the object of their errand, or
even to let them enter his camp. At last, on the 11th
March, 1784, the long series of scornful insults was crowned
by the sight of two English envoys standing for two hour's
before Tippu, with, heads bare, beseeching him tx) sign the
treaty they held in their hands. Their prayers were
finally granted at the intercession of envoys from Piina
and Haidarabad. By this act of needless self-abasement
the Madras Government pmxhased a peace which restored
to each party their former possessions, and rescued more
than a thousand EngUshmen from the slow torture of
prison Ufe in Maisor. At the best, however, it was only
a hollow tiTice, which Tippu, at once a fanatic, a restless
schemer, and a bom foe to the Enghsh, was pretty sui-e
to break at the first opportunity.
246
CHAPTER IV.
WARREN HASTINGS — [continued).
In the midst of his anxieties concerning the war in Southern
India, Hastings found himself involved in fresh troubles
nearer home. The conflicting claims of the Company's
civil servants and the crown judges in Bengal to jurisdic-
tion over the natives beyond Calcutta, had brought him for
a time into direct collision with the Supreme Court, headed
by his best friend, Sir Elijah Impey. A war of writs on the
one hand, of proclamations on the other, raged between
the two parties. Arrests, resisted by the Company's soldiers
acting under Hastings' orders, were enforced by the Calcutta
judges with the help of sailors and poHcemen hii-ed for the
purpose. Hastings forbade the Bengal Zamindars from
obeying the decrees of a court whose claims appeared to
clash with the higher interests of the State. The Chief
Justice in his turn issued summonses against the Governor-
General and his Council, a proceeding which the latter
laughed to scorn. Stories of outrages committed on either
side were rife throughout the country, and the whole
machinery of government was fast approaching a dead
lock.
Happily, just before the departure of Francis, the quar-
rel was appeased by a timely movement on Hastings'
part. The Sadr Dewani Adiilat, or chief civil court of
Bengal, as reformed by Hastings a few months earlier,
was placed before the end of 1780 under the charge of
Impey himself. The wisdom of this step soon became
clear. An able lawyer and an upright judge, Impoy
■WAKREN HASTINGS.
247
at once drew up a Biinple and serviceable code of rules
for the better administration of civil justice through-
out Bengal. The young English judges in the lower
courts soon learned to mend their ways and shape their
judgments in careful accordance with the principles laid
down by their new chief. The old broils between rival
authorities came to an end ; law and order reigned once
more throughout the pro\'ince ; waste lands were brought
again imder the plough ; and revenue began to flow with
its former freedom into the Company's treasury.
This stroke of policy on the part of Hastings was hailed
at the time by the Court of Directors with their hearty
approval. But ere long their ears were poisoned by
slanders emanating from the spiteful Francis, who, leav-
ing India at the end of 1780, had carried his rancour and
a goodly fortune home. In the course of 1782 they de-
creed the removal of Impey from a post whose burdens
he had meanwhile borne with signal credit, at his own
unaided cost.* A few months afterwards, his enemies at
home had succeeded in carrying through the House of
Commons a vote for the absolute recall of a Chief Justice
who had ventured to take ofiice under the Company while
yet a servant of the Crown.
Meanwhile Hastings, pressed for money to carry on the
■war with Haidar, had demanded from his feudatory, the
Eajah of Banaras, a special aid of £50,000 and 2,000
horse. Chait Singh's evasive answers failed to soften the
heart of a governor who had good reason to believe in the
Rajah's power to meet so moderate a demand. Not tUl
Hastings approached Banaras in August, 1781, did Chait
Singh strive to avert his anger by begging him to take
twenty lakhs of rupees — £200,000 — in payment of aU
* Through his acceptance of this further office, " the Chief Justice,"
says Macaulay, "was rich, quiet, and infamous." Unluckily for the
brilliant essayist, the fact is that Impey refused the additional £5,000
a-year which the Calcutta CouncU would gladly have paid him for the
additional work.
248 HISTORY OF INBU.
claims. Hastings sternly insisted on fifty lakhs. A few
days afterwards, on reaching Banaras with an escort of
native troops, he placed the Rajah under arrest. The
people of the city rose upon the Sepoy guard, and slew
them almost to a man. Chait Singh, escaping across the
river, called his followers to arms. In that hour of
supreme peril, with only half a hundred Sepoys between
him and the insurgent rabble of a great city, Hastings
quietly gave the last touches to his treaty with Sindia.
Faithful messengers, steahng out of Banaras, can-ied his
orders to the nearest military posts in Bengal. At the
first opportune moment, he himself withdrew to the for-
tress of Chunar, to await the issue of his plans for sup-
pressing the revolt.
Defeated in the field, Chait Singh fled at last into
Bundalkhand. His stronghold of Bijigarh fell into the
hands of Major Popham, the conqueror of Gwalior, and
the booty found there was divided among our troops.
The bulk of Chait Singh's wealth, however, had followed
him into his place of exile ; and the Governor-General,
balked of his prey, consoled himself by exacting a larger
tribute from the prince whom he set up in his uncle's
room.
Hastings was yet at Chunar, when a new way of re-
plenishing his drained exchequer was opened to him by
the treaty which he concluded with Asaf-ud-daula, the
Nawab of Audh. By this arrangement, the one dark
spot, perhaps, in a bright career, the property which the
Audh Begams, the widow and mother of the late Nawab,
had unjustly retained for their own use six years before,
was now escheated to its rightful owner, the Nawab him-
self. Of this sum at least half a million was paid into the
Bengal treasmy in acquittal of the Nawab's debts to the
Bengal Government. It was believed, indeed, by Hastings
himself that the despoiled princesses had conspired against
him with Chait Singh ; but the grounds for such an in-
■WABREX HASTINGS. 249
dictment have never been fully ascertained, and the harsh
measures taken by the Nawab to enforce his claims have
ever since redounded, however unfairly, to the discredit of
Hastings himself.* The money thus obtained, on what-
ever pretexts, enabled Hastings to carrj- on the war with
Maisor, and to complete his successful dealings with the
Marathas.
By this time the reign of the great Governor-General
was drawing to its close. Censured by the Court of
Directors for his share in the dethronement of Chait
Singh and the plundering of the Audh Begams, opposed
once more by the members of his own council, Hastings
at length prepared to throw up his thankless post. Before
carrying out his purpose, he visited Lucknow in 1784, and,
in compUance with orders received fi-om England, compelled
the Nawab-Yizier to reinstate the Begams in their forfeited
jagirs. When aU the more pressing affairs of his govern-
ment had been duly settled, he issued fai-eweU letters to
all the native princes, handed over the keys of Fort
William to his successor, Mr. Macpherson, and on the
8th February, 1785, sped by the good -n-isbes of adniiiing
thousands, he saOed away from the country which he had
ruled for thirteen years, amidst every kind of danger,
vexation, and discouragement, with a vigour, wisdom, self-
reUance, and general mastery of his means, unsm-passed,
if it has ever since been equalled, ia the annals of British
India. +
The welcome which Hastings at first received in Enc
land was not unworthy of his high deserts. At Coui-t he
* One of the Be'gams was alive, hearty, and "very rich" in 1803,
when Lord Talentia visited Lucknow. (" Memoirs of Sir E. Impey '■
p. 23G.)
t In Hastings the scholar was largely blended with the statesman.
A steady patron of Eastern learning, he spoke the languages of India
with ease, and was deeply versed in Arabic and Persian literature.
Ignorant himself of Sanskrit, he encouraged the study of it among
his countrymen, and his influence led the Pandits of Bengal to teach
Ijnglish scholars the classical lore of ancient India.
250 HISTORV OF INDIA.
was treated with every mark of respect. Of His Majesty's
ministers, Pitt alone viewed the great Viceroy with un-
friendly eyes, and declined to recommend him for the
peerage he had so fairly earned. His services were
acknowledged by the Court of Directors in a formal sit-
ting, at which no voice was raised against him. He soon
found a seat in the House of Commons. But rest from
further trouble was not yet to be his lot. Pitt's ministry
had just succeeded in carrying the famous India Bill of
1784, which placed the Court of Directors under the
general control of a board composed of privy councillors,
headed by a minister of the Crown. If any traces of
political power still remained in the hands of the Direc-
tors, the Court of Proprietors ceased to have any direct
voice in the government of India. Under this arrange-
ment Hastings lost the help of his most serviceable
friends ; and in Parliament his enemies were neither few
nor powerless. At their head was the eloquent and high-
souled Burke himself, supported by Fox, Sheridan, and
all the strength of the Whigs. In the background stood
his inveterate foe, Sir Philip Francis, who famished the
Whig leaders with an ample store of arguments, fair or
foul, for the coming attack. What friends Hastings might
still number on the Tory side of the House were all too
weak to make head against the hostile influences wielded
by their great leader, Pitt.
Early in June, 1785, Burke opened his campaign
against the late Governor-General, who had landed in
England but a few days before. In April of the following
year his Ust of charges was laid before the Commons'
House. In the matter of the RohiUa war, Pitt sided with
the friends of Hastings ; but when the treatment of Chait
Singh came up for discussion, he was found voting with
the majority in favour of the motion brought up by Fox.
On the charge concerning the Audh Begams, memorable
for Sheridan's masteq)iece of fiery rhetoric, Pitt once
WAEEEN HASTINGS. '251
more threw his vote and influence into the scale against
Hastings.
At last, in February, 1788, the final impeachment of
the great EngUsh proconsul was begun before the as-
sembled peers of England by Burke himself. For seven
years the trial dragged on, until in April, 1795, Hastings
found himself acquitted on eveiy chai-ge by a majority
always large, sometimes overwhelming, of the twenty-nine
peers who came to record their votes. He left their pre-
sence with a clear character, but an almost empty purse,
the great bulk of his moderate savings having gone to
meet the expenses of his long trial. But the timely grant
of a Hberal pension by the Court of Directors enabled him
to spend his declining years in comfort and scholarly ease
on the ancestral estate of Daylesford, which had been lost
to his family for more than seventy years. Long after-
wards, in 1813, when the charter of the East India Com-
pany was to be renewed, Hastings, now in his eighty-
second year, once more presented himself at the bar of
the House of Commons. This time, however, he came,
not as an aiTaigned criminal, but as a ■5\itness who bad
weighty things to say on many questions of Indian govern-
ment. The Commons, who had greeted his entrance with
admiring cheers, rose and uncovered when he withdrew.
Other tokens of respect and honour awaited him elsewhere,
in London, Oxford, and at Court. He w^as made a mem-
ber of the Privy CouncU, a doctor of laws ; the Prince
Regent presented him to his royal guests, the Emperor of
Russia and the King of Pi-ussia, in whose train he went to
Oxford ; and the hope of yet higher honours once more
dawned upon him. But the half-promised peerage was
stUl deferred ; and in 1818 the white-haii-ed statesman
quietly breathed his last at Daylesford, in the eighty-sixth
year of a life whose peaceful ending could hardly have been
foregathered from its stormy noon.
Before his departm-e from India, Hastings had ordered
252 HISTORY OF INDIA.
the Govomment of Madras to annul the agreement which
placed the revenues of the Camatic at their entire disposal.
Against this act of well-meant but doubtful policy, Lord
Macartney fought for a time with much success. But a
fresh order fi-om Dundas, the first President of the new
Board of Control, overrode the policy upheld by Lord
Macartney and sanctioned by the India House. Sir John
Macpherson, who was acting in the room of Hastings,
shrank from disobeyuig the commands of Dundas ; and
the revenues, which in English hands would have been
turned to good account, were at length surrendered into
those of a spendthrift prince who owed everything he had
to English support and forbearance. The result of this step
was to enrich a number of greedy adventurers, native and
European, who had lent money to the Naw;ib at enormous
interest, and screwed untold profits out of the large estates
assigned them in partial payment of their claims.
Sir John Macpherson continued to hold office until the
autumn of 1786, when Lord ComwaUis, a statesman and
soldier of some merit dming the war with our American
colonies, took up the reins of power at Calcutta. Sir
.John's government, if not otherwise eventful, had been
marked by his stern refusal to pay chauth to the Marathas
for Bengal, and by his imdoubted success in reducing
the public outlay. In Southern India a brief war be-
tween Tippu and the Mai-athas rufiied for a time the
general peace ; and Sindia in the north was already
scheming to overthrow the last relics of Moghal rule
around Dehli. But not tUl after the landing of Sir John's
successor did the old stonn of war and general tumult
burst forth again with a fury which English guns and
bayonets alone could check.
253
CHAPTER V.
LOED CORNWALLIS 178G-1793.
Like mnny of his successors, Lord Cornwallis landed in
India full of wise resolutions against war and conquest,
and eager only to ensure peace and good government in
the dominions entrusted to his charge. For a time his
efforts were rewarded with success. Armed with powers
which Hastings would have envied,* he put down abuses
with a stern hand, raised the salaries of the civil servants,
and set his face like a flint against every kind of jobbery
and crooked dealing. The Nawab-Vizier of Audh was
sharply lectured for his shortcomings as a ruler ; but his
future payments to the Calcutta treasury were curtailed
by more than a third, and his general right to mismanage
his own affairs, and waste his revenues, if he chose, in
riotous living, was carefully respected.
By this time Cornwallis availed himself of the peace
lately renewed between Tippu and his neighbours, to
enforce his claim to the Gantiir Sarkars, in pursuance of
a treaty made with the Nizam in 1768. For several years
after the death of Basalat Jang, his brother, on this or
that pretext, had kept the province in his own hands. At
length, in 1788, seeing that Cornwallis would brook no
fm-ther trifling, Nizam Ali yielded up the disputed terri-
tory, with a blandly expressed reminder of his own claims
under the treaty of 1768. At the same time, the wily son
of Chin Ivilich sounded the Sultan of Maisor about form-
ing a league against the English. Tippu's ready assent
* Cornwallis was empowered to disregard the votes of his Council.
254 HISTORY OF INDIA.
was burdened by an offer of marriage with the Nizam's
daughter. Wrath at the very notion of such an aUiance
with the son of a low-born adventurer gave the Xiziim a
timely motive for withdrawing from a perilous path, and
making the best terms he could with the English Govern-
ment. It was idle to hope for immediate possession of a
province conquered by Haidar, and firmly held by his
son ; but CornwaUis undertook to hand the Balaghat over
to the Nizam, whenever it might fall into English keeping,
and promised to aid that monarch at need, under the
terms of the old treaty, against all common foes.
Tippu's hatred of the English was not lessened by this
new proof of their readiness to meet his movements half
way. To blame CgrnwaUis for taking these precautions
would be alike unfair to his known character and the cir-
cumstances of a critical time. He knew that the fierce
bigot who inherited all Haidar's schemes of conquest was
only waiting for the right moment to avenge himself on
the power which had thus far prevented him from carrying
his arms all over Southern India. His attack on Tra-
vankor in the last days of 1789, in defiance of the treaty
which placed its Kajah under our protection, compelled
ComwalUs to take up the challenge thus flung in his very
face.
A joint treaty for defence and offence between the Enghsh,
the Nizam, and the Peshwa, was the answer promptly
given to that challenge. Fifteen thousand EngUshmen
and Sepoys, under General Medows, opened the campaign
on the side of Madras. In spite of hindrances caused by
the wretched Madras Government, Medows worked his
way round by Koimbator into the Maisor highlands, and
cari'ied in September the strong fort of Piilghat. The
Manithas on their part had not been idle, nor the English
column despatched from Bombay. Tippu, on the other
hand, watched with a tiger's cunning for the moment when
he might catch his foe unready or asleep. Such a moment
LORD CORXWAluLIS. 255
came when Colonel Floyd's column, too far from its sup-
ports, was driven backwards with the loss of several guns.
But the wUy Sultan was already overmatched in fighting-
power. A strong division from Bengal reinforced Medows
in November. On the Malabar side, Colonel Hartley
added to the laurels he had won ten years before * by
routing the Maisor troops, many times his own numbers,
under the walls of Cahcut. The reduction of Kananor by
Abercrombie cut Tippu off from his last stronghold on the
western coast.
Next year Cornwallis himself, displacing the worthy but
not too brilliant Medows, set out at the head of a powerful
army from Madras. Misleading Tippu by a series of
feints, he made his way into Maisor without firing a shot.
On the 21st March, Bangalor surrendered, in spite of
Tippu's eflbrts to reheve it. The Nizam, who had hitherto
done Uttle for the common cause, now joined the English
with 10,000 horsemen, gaily apparelled but nearly useless.
As for the Marathas, they never appeared at the right
moment. Cornwallis, however, pressed on towards Se-
ringapatam, through a country stripped beforehand of all
supplies. On the 13th May he confronted Tippu strongly
posted on the ridge of Arikera, with the Kavari on his
right. By a well-planned night-march he turned the
enemy's flank, and the battle of the following day resulted
in a victory which might have placed the capital of Maisor
at the victor's mercy. But the troops were already starv-
ing, disease was fast thinning their ranks, and of the
Marathas nothing had been heard. At last, on the 26th,
the victorious army began its retreat towards Bangalor.
A few hours later our Maratha aUies came up with the
retiring columns, in good time to assuage their hunger,
but too late to check their backward march.
The rest of that year was spent by our troops in con-
quering the Biiramahal on the eastern frontier of Maisor,
* Book iv. chap. 3.
25G HISTORY OF INDIA.
and in the capture of Nandidrug, Savandrug, and other
liill-forts which native armies had been wont to besiege in
vain. Oui- native allies were also busy worrying Tippu's
northern frontiers. Koimbator, on the other hand, after
a long and manful defence under Lieutenant Chalmers,
feO at last, a mere heap of ruins, into the hands of the
Sultan, who rewarded its brave defenders by carryin"
them off to prison in wanton breach of his pledged word.
At length, in January 1792, Comwallis led a fine army
of 22,000 men with ninety guns against Seringapatam.
Reinforced by contingents from his native aUies, he planted
himself on the 5th February in front of Tippu's last great
stronghold. A night-attack, skilfully planned and bril-
liantly carried through, left him master of the outworks on
the morning of the 7th, and gave his troops a commanding
foothold on the island in the Kavari where stood the city
itself. On the 16th, Abercrombie's Bombay column came
up to complete the circle of attack; and the fierce Sidtan,
already frightened at the progi-ess made by the English
batteries, and disheartened by the panic among his own
followers, saw no escape from utter ruin save in accepting
such tenns as the Enghsh general might choose to enforce.
On the 22nd February Tippu leained his fate. The
price of his submission was to be the forfeiture of half his
kingdom, the surrender of two sons as hostages, and the
payment of three crores of i-upees — about i'3,000,000 —
towards the expenses of the war. His proud spirit fought
for a time against his better judgment ; but every voice iu
his council urged submission, and Tippu sullenly gave
way. On the 24th he put his seal to the first draft of
the treaty which was to cripple his power for ever. Next
day his sons were received with all honour in the English
camp.
A sudden check to the progi-ess of the treaty was
caused by the Governor-General's somewhat tardy effort
to rescue the friendly little state of Kiirg from Tippu's
LORD COEyWALUS. 257
clutches. For some days it seemed as if the wrathful
Sultan would stake everything on resistance to this new
demand. But the counter-movements of the English
army soon brought him into a calmer frame of mind ; and
on the 19th March his sons presented to Lord ComwaUis
the ratified treaty which placed Kiirg, Dindigal, Malabar,
and the Baramahal thenceforth in EngUsh hands. A large
slice of Tippu's northern frontier along the Tumbadra was
shared between our native allies, who also received each a
miUion of the money fine exacted from Maisor. Thus
hemmed in by strong neighbours on every side, the hum-
bled son of Haidar Ah might chafe at the shattering of all
his dearest hopes, and brood over schemes of vengeance
on his English conquerors. But turn which way he would,
failure and disappointment were stiU to be his lot ; and
the only light which thenceforth shone upon his darkness
was the baleful reflection of his own wounded pride, savage
bigotry, and undving hate.
The Maratha gains in Southern India were as nothing
to the progress meanwhile made by Mahdaji Sindia in the
north. By the Treaty of Salbai that able and ambitious
ruler had been raised to the rank of an independent sove-
reign. Already the foremost native power in Hindustan,
he was bent on rising yet higher, on wiping out the last
traces of Maratha failure at Panipat. His opportunity
soon came. DehU was again torn by rival factions, and
the leader of one of them implored his help in the name of
his helpless sovereign. Sindia gladly accepted the offer,
and the death of him who had made it soon left him
master of the position. For the Peshwa of Puna, as bead
of the Maratha League, he obtained from Shah Alam the
title of Regent of the Empire. As deputy for the Peshwa,
he himself took charge of the Imperial government, with
the supreme command of the Imperial armies, for whose
maintenance the revenues of Agra and Dehli were en-
trusted to his sole keeping.
s
258 HISTORY OP INDIA.
For the next few ycaiB the bold Maratha was engaged
in strengthening the foundations of his new sway. His
enemies around Dehli were neither few nor weak. The
proud Mohammadan nobles chafed under the ascendency
of an upstart Hindu. The high-born princes of Riijputana
begrudged the payment to a Sudra adventurer of the tri-
bute claimed for the Moghal. His rival, Holkar, bore him
no good-will, and the Court of Piina dreaded the soaring
ambition of their self-appointed deputy. A powerful
weapon, however, was already forging for Sindia's benefit.
With the help of Count de Boigne, a Savoyard who had
lately entered his service,* ho got together a disciphned
force of 20,000 men, mostly infantry, officered largely by
Europeans, and strengthened by a formidable array of
guns. To the sturdy courage of these troops and the
skill of their leaders he owed his final deliverance from
more than one perilous strait. Defeated by the Rajputs
and hard pressed by the Mohammadans in 1787, he looked
in vain for help towards Pima, and was fain to seek
timely shelter with the Jat prince of Bhartpiir. Ere long,
the foolish old emperor himself took open part against his
defeated minister.
But Sindia's turn for triumph came at last. His defeat
of Ismael Beg under the walls of Agra, in June 1788,
paved the way for his return to Dehli. He was still
loitering on his road thither, when he heard of the horrible
outi-ages inflicted on the emperor and his household by
the ruffianly grandson of the able and upright Najib-ud-
daula, who had fought so bravely for the Moghal at
Panipat. This RohiUa savage, Gholam Kadir by name,
had retreated to Dehli in company with Ismael Beg. The
frightened emperor closed the gates of the city on his
* This adventurer, after serving in the French and Russian armies,
became an ensign in the 6th Sepoy Batt;'>lion at Madras. Thence he
went round to Calcutta, was employed by Hastiniis on an emba-sy to
Dehli in 1781, and fiually took service under Jliilidaji Sindia.
LORD CORNWALLIS. 259
defeated allies ; but Gholam Kadir bribed his way in, and
a Mohammadan axmy was once more loosed for plunder
in the Mophal capital. Disappointed, it seems, of the
treasures he had hoped to find within the palace, and
enraged beyond bearing at his repeated failures to seaixh
out an imaginary secret, the pitiless ruffian put the
Princes of Dehli to the torture in the presence of the
emperor himself.* In the depth of his anguish the old
man cried out, " Take my sight rather than force upon it
scenes like these ! " In a moment, Gholam Kiidir sprang
upon his victim, pinned him to the floor, and blinded him
with his own dagger. But his hour of triumph was soon
to be cut short. On the appearance of De Boigne's bat-
talions before Dehli, he fled thence, after a vain attempt
to fire the palace. On his subsequent flight from Mirat
he fell into the hands of Sindia's horsemen, and his crimes
were requited by Sindia's order with the poetic justice of
a horrible and Ungering death.!
Thenceforth the deputy's gi'eatness knew no check.
He replaced the blind old emperor on the throne of Dehli ;
but the whole powers of government remained in his own
hands, and Shah Alam became a mere pensioner on
Sindia's bounty. His old opponents, one after another,
took arms against him only to ensure their final defeat.
Too wise to embroil himself in a second war with the
Enghsh, he yet steadily set his face against the policy
which led his countrymen in Southern India to aid Corn-
wallis in humbhng Tippu. At length, when all was peace-
ful in Hindustan, Sindia set out for Piina in 1792 to invest
the young Peshwa, Madhu Rao, with the dignity thrice con-
ferred on him by the head of the house of Babar. Such
* One of the tortured princes lived to witness as Emperor the
massacre of English women and children at Dehli in 1857.
t Keene's '* Moghal Empire," chap. 5. The wretched man was first
led through Mattra on an ass, with his face to the tail. His tongue
was then torn out, his eyes blinded, his nose, ears, hands, and feet cut
off ; after which he was hanged upon a tree.
s2
260 HISTORY OF INDIA.
at least was the outward purpose of bis journey ; but in
all likelibood his real aim was to counteract tbe intrigues
of Nana Famawis, and render his own influence supremo
in Southern as well as Northern India.
Tbe Pesbwa's investiture was the most splendid cere-
mony which Piina had ever seen. Sindia himself rode up
on his elephant at the head of a gorgeous retinue ; but
with an artful show of humihty he took the lowest place
among the assembled chiefs. When the Peshwa would
have placed him on the seat next his ovm, he displayed a
pair of embroidered slippers, in token of tbe office he had
inherited from bis father, and reverently placed them on
tbe Peshwa's feet. With well-feigned reluctance be at
length took tbe seat of honour which none there present
bad nearly so good a right to fill.
From that time bis Brahman rival. Nana Farnawis,
began to lose all hold on the youth in whose name be bad
hitherto governed without a check. Another heavy defeat
inflicted on Holkar by De Boigne left Sindia virtual master
of nearly all India, outside tbe English possessions and
the few native states which owned the English for their
allies. In despair at his own darkening prospects the
Nana was about to give up the struggle by retiring to
Banaras, when Sindia's death from fever in February,
1794, removed out of his path tbe only danger he bad
hitherto failed to overcome.
By this time Cornwallis himself had disappeared from
the scene of his past labours. But be left behind him a
legacy whose value, however highly rated by the statesmen
of bis own day, has long been regarded by a lai'ge class of
thinkers with loss approving ej-es. If tbe boldness of bis
foreign policy, in spite of its success, brought him into
discredit with a small but noisy class of politicians at
home,* his great measure for settling the land revenues of
* Sii- Philip Francis, Hastings' old enemy, was at the head of them.
LORD CORNWALLIS.
261
Bengal was hailed by the bulk of his own countrymen with
a satisfaction largely owing to his well-earned fame as an
FAMINE-STRICKEN GROUP OP PE.4SAXTS.
upright, clear-headed, successful governor. It is needless
here to discuss the question whether private property i
land was or was not imknown to Indian usage, and
m
con-
2G2 HISTORY OF INDU.
trary to the spirit of Indian laws.* For the present pur-
pose it is enough to say, that the rents from land in India
had come to be divided between the village communities, the
Zaminddrs and Tdlukdars, yrho farmed the revenues of their
several districts, and the State itself, which claimed from
one-half to three-fifths of the yearly produce from the soil.
In Bengal the rights of the old village communities had
been swallowed up in the growing power of the Zamindars
or middlemen, whom Hastings everywhere found claiming
entire ownership of the land their fathers had mostly held
on lease. The ousted Rayats or husbandmen had become
mere tenants at will of the usurping Zamindars. These
latter Lord Cornwallis had fi'om the first been enjoined to
treat, for fiscal purposes, as the only rightful lords of the
soil.
Accordingly in 1789 a new assessment of the land-
revenue was carried out for ten years on the terms pre-
scribed by the Court of Directors. In 1793 this settle-
ment was declared perpetual. In spite of the reasons
urged against such a measure by Mr. Shore, and other
men of long Indian experience, it was decreed that thence-
forth the Zamindars of Bengal were to hold their lands
for ever at the rent-rates charged upon them in 1789.
Thi-ee things were involved in this momentous enactment.
The Zamindars were formally acknowledged as lords of
the soil. The rent-charge on their estates was fixed for
ever at a certain rate. And lastly the rate itself was taken at
a fixed sum of money, without reference to future changes
in the selling value of land and its yearly harvests.
It will thus be seen that the weak points of this perma-
nent settlement lay chiefly under the first and third heads.
To turn a body of revenue-farmers into actual landownei-s
* The true theory seems to be that private property in land had
always been the rule in India, limited only by the sovereign's imme-
morial right to a certain share in the produce of the soiL The whole
question is fairiy and clearly handled in " Notes on the North-Western
Provinces of India," by a •' District Officer " (Allen ii Co.)
LORD CORN'WALLIS. 263
was a measure which, however excusable and even expe-
dient, was sure to entail some hardship on the old pea-
santry whose right to hold their ancestral acres was now
swept away at one blow. It is true that some attempt
was made to secure to the Rayats their ancient holdings
by means of leases, which the Zamindiii-s were bound as a
rule to grant them at the former rents. Other steps were
also taken to guard their interests from unfair encroach-
ments on the part of their new landlords. But here, as in
so many other cases, the weakest went to the wall. The
new landowners abused their powers at every turn. Their
luckless tenants found their leases withheld, their rents
raised under any pretext, their goods hable to distraint
without any notice, and themselves gi-ound do^-n by ever
new and illegal demands.* To the com-ts of justice they
were free to appeal ; but what justice could they hope to
win, even if they had the means of seeking it, against
oppressors powerful fi'om their rank, wealth, and I'eadiness
to gain their own ends by any means, however crooked ?
Every avenue to legal redress was blocked up by pilfering
poUcemen and venal underlings of the law, by whose
influence the eyes of well-meaning English magistrates
were too often blinded to the truth.
The Zamindars, on the other hand, might plead some
excuse for wrong-doing in the high rates at which they were
assessed by the government, and the summary powers of
sale under which the government demands were enforced.
It is certain that under the new system many of their
estates were brought to the hammer, and that in 1799
some attempt was made to abate the evil effects of sum-
mary sales, by a rule which decreed that sales of land for
arreai's of revenue should be deferred to the end of each
* It was not till some years afterwards that the Zamindar was
compelled to give due notice of his intention to distrain, and was
forbidden to seize the Ra'vat's cattle and farming tools. Kaye's "East
India Company," part ii. chap. 2.
264 msTORY OP india.
year. It was also alleged that a defaulting Eayat could
sometimes evade the demands of a needy or grasping land-
lord more easily than the latter could put off his payments
to the State. On the whole, however, it is pretty clear
that the balance of wrong-doing, as Sir John Kaye puts it,
" must have been greatly on the side of the Zamindar.''
He and his agents were far more likely to plunder and
oppress the Kayat, than the Kayat, for all his cunning,
was likely to outwit them.
If undue haste was shown in fixing the new settlement
for ever, before the question of land-tenures in Bengal had
been thoroughly sifted and the value of the land assessed
had been clearly ascertained, it was still more unfortunate
that the boon of a fixed assessment should have been
clogged by the State's surrender of its prescriptive right to
re-adjust the land-tax to its own fiscal needs in the future.
The main source of revenue in India had always been the
land. A certain share of the landholder's yearly profits,
whether payable in kind or coin, had been taken by suc-
cessive governments, Hindu or Mohammadan, for the
public use. According as the land rose in value, or the
purchasing power of money declined, the State charge on
the land was also raised. Under English rule payment
in kind had gradually been replaced by payment in money ;
but it was left for Lord Cornwallis to fix the money pay-
ment at a rate which could never more be raised or altered.
His successors were thus for ever debarred from replen-
ishing the public purse by adjusting the land-tax to the
increasing profits of those who paid it. Had the money
payments been fixed at a given proportion to the average
rental of the land from time to time, the land revenue of
Bengal would now have been double what it is, and the
government would not be driven to devise new and often
questionable means of taxation in order to arrest the
gradual decline of its old fiscal resources.
In some respects, however, the new settlement worked
LORD CORNWAIiLIS. 5*0
well. After a season of dire confusion and distress,
during which many old families passed away from their
ancient holdings, or tiUed as mere serfs the fields which
had once been theirs, while many even of the Zamindars
■were sold out of the estates confen-ed on them by English
rulers, a new class of landed gentry, em'iched by trade
and money-lending, rose upon the wrecks of their neigh-
boui's' fortunes into a position of assured importance, if
not of much political power. Waste lands were gi'adually
brought under the plough ; the growing wealth of the
province encouraged the growth of its population, and
opened out new channels of trade and industry, as well as
new sources of public income. K the land-revenue showed
no sensible increase, its collection at any rate became
easier and the amount less fluctuating. All this, however,
might have happened under a system of periodical settle-
ments. MeanwhUe, whoever else profited, the Eayats
were mostly on the losing side. Their rents were raised
without mercy by their new masters, their old rights over-
ridden without scruple, and new exactions levied on them
at every turn.*
Another important measure carried out by Lord Corn-
waUis was the reform of the civil and criminal courts.
The duties of revenue-collector were for the first time
separated from those of the civil judge. Civil courts for
the trial of native suits were established in every district.
In the criminal com-ts of each district the higher civil
judges held their sessions at diflerent places in turn.f
* " Not a child can be bom," wrote the Joint Magistrate of Rangpiir
in 1815, "not a head religiously shaved, not a son man-ied, not a
daughter given in marriage, not even one of the tyrannical fraternity
dies, without an immediate visitation of calamity upon the Rayat."
On every such occasion the Zamindar or his agent levied a fresh tax on
the Eayat's goods. (Raikes's •' Notes on the North-Western Provinces
of India.")
t Mohammadan law, tempered by English punishments, was still to
be administered in Bengal.
2G6 HISTORY OF rSBIA.
Sir Elijah Impey's Code of Regulations was re-modelled,
but bardly improved by the addition of intricate rules and
idle formalities. Yet more unfortunate was the ordinance
which shut out the natives of India from all but the lowest
ranks in the public service. The highest office to which a
native could thenceforth aspii-e was that of a police
Darogah on twenty-five rupees a month, or that of a
Mimsif or petty judge, who obtained only a small per-
centage on the cost of civil suits. The good thus wrought
in one direction was counterbalanced by evil in another.
If a higher moral tone began thenceforth to prevail
among the English servants of the Company, their native
underlings were driven to eke out their scanty wages by
every form of jobbing and extortion. Let the English
magistrate be never so upright, he had no means of check-
ing the corrupt tendencies of ill-paid subordinates, who
abused to their own profit the power which many circum-
stances combined to place in their hands. Whatever
good might come of Enghsh example in high places, it
was clearly unwise to block up all those avenues to prefer-
ment by which the ambition of the higher classes in the
country had been wont to seek its natural food.
Before leaving India Lord CornwaUis sailed for Madras
in order to command the force he had got together for
the siege of Pondicheri-y, a task imposed upon him by the
outbreaking of another war with France. But the timely
siu-render of that place to Colonel Braithwaite left him
free to pui'sue his voyage homewards, in October, 1793,
after a useful, fii'm, and prosperous reign of seven years.
He was succeeded by Sir John Shore, a Bengal civilian of
long-standing, high character, and approved conversance
with revenue affairs.
267
CHAPTER VI.
sin JOHN SHOEE AND MAKQUIS WELLESLEY 1793-1800.
The new G-OTernor-General bad not long taken up the
reins of empii'e, when a storm of war once more burst upon
Southern India. At the death of Miihdaji Sindia the
Maratha power may be said to have reached its zenith.
His nephew and successor, Daulat Rao Sindia, was stUl a
boy ; but Nana Farnawis once more reigned at Piina
without a rival, and his influence made itself felt from the
foot of the Himalayas to the southernmost bounds of
Maharashtra. Quick to avail himself of Sir John Shore's
inaction in the field of foreign pohtics, he began to make
threatening demands upon the Nizam, who tm'ned for help
to the English GoTernment under the treaty of 1790.
But Shore could see no reason for helping one old ally
against another, and the Marathas took their own way
unchecked.
Early in 1795 the hostile armies took the field. A
hundred and thii-ty thousand Marathas, gathered from all
parts of India, followed the standard of the young Peshwa,
himself under the actual leadership of Pareshram Bhao,
while the Nizam's forces, 110,000 strong, included a con-
tingent disciplined by French officers under M. RajTuond,
who had served with Lally many years before. Sindia's
contingent on the Maratha side was also commanded by a
Frenchman, M. Perron. The battle which ensued on the
11th March at Kiu-dla, on the Nizam's western frontier,
was lost to the Mohammadans mainly by the cowardice of
Nizam Ali himself. Two days afterwards the defeated
268 HISTOBY OF INDIA.
monarch put his seal to a treaty which condemned him to
pay the victors three millions sterling and yield up ter-
ritory worth £350,000 a-year.
The wUy minister, Nana Famawis, had now reached the
height of his power. Supreme at the court of his nominal
master, he was held in awe at every capital where ruled
a prince of the great Maratha League. Even the young
Sindia paid him the deference due from youth to a suc-
cessful veteran in the field of statescraft. But the fate
which had frowned so darkly on him a year before the
victory of Kurdla was ere long to hold him fast in its
toUs. In October, 1795, the young Peshwa, Madhu Eao,
slew himself in a fit of despair at the utter thraldom in
which his all-powerful minister was bent on keeping him,
at an ago when other princes were deemed fit to govern
for themselves. The rightful heir to his throne was Biiji
Kao, son of that Ragoba whose chequered fortunes had
closed in peace and privacy after the Treaty of Salbai.
Distrustful of the Nina's real purpose, Baji Rao secretly
applied for help to Daulat Rao Sindia. When this became
known at Piina, the Nana, who had just been plotting on
behalf of Baji's younger brother, Chimnaji, suddenly re-
solved to forestal Sindia by espousing the cause of B;iji
himself. The game of intrigue which followed has no
parallel even in the history of Maratha politics. As a
thing of course Sindia and the X;ina take opposite sides,
and change them whenever it suits theu- pui-pose. At one
moment the Nana is an exile and Baji a prisoner. Ere
long the former gains the upper hand, and Baji Rao is
seated on the throne, which his brother had meanwhile
occupied against his own wiU. Sindia turns against his
own nominee, and casts his own minister, BaUoba Tautia,
into prison. Buji Rao then plots the ruin both of Sindia and
Nana Famawis. The former escapes death through Baji's
timely indecision, but the latter is treacherously seized
with Sindia's connivance, and hurried off a close prisoner
SIR JOHN SHORE AND MAEQUIS WELLESLEY. 269
to Ahmadnagar, whence he is afterwards set free by Sindia
on payment of a heavy bribe.
Meanwhile Sir John Shore had been engaged in deahng
with a serious mutiny among the officers of the Company's
Indian army. The soreness caused by the late im-
provements in the pay of the Civil Service, and by the
threatened amalgamation of the king's and Company's
troops, spoke out at last in a combined movement of the
aggrieved officers for their own protection from alleged
encroachments on their just rights. Daunted by the
growing danger, or loath to use force against men whose
claims he could not deem unjust, the Governor- General gave
way. The double batta, which had lately been withheld
from the Company's troops, was restored in full ; brevet
rank was largely granted ; and an improved scale of pay
for officers of every rank was drawn up. Shore's con-
cessions so displeased Dundas, that he besought Lord
Cornwalhs to return at once to his former post ; but the
" milk-and-water " policy of the Court of Directors towards
their mutinous servants speedily decided him to refuse
the offer, and Sir John Shore's concessions were finally
confirmed.
K Sir John laid himself open to the charge of acting
weakly on this occasion, a later conjuncture showed him
to be far from wanting in quiet courage. On the death of
Asaf-ud-daula, the Nawab- Vizier of Audh, in 1797, he was
led by faulty information to acknowledge Wazir Ali, the
Nawab's reputed son, as his successor. But further in-
quiry taught him to uphold the stronger claims of Asaf s
brother, Sadat Ali. That prince was therefore raised to
the throne on condition of surrendering Allahabad to the
English, and maintaining ten thousand of the Company's
troops in Audh. The treaty was concluded while Sir
John was yet encamped at Lucknow, in imminent danger
of an attack at any moment from the numerous and reck-
less followers of the prince he was about to depose. But
270 HISTORY OF INDIA.
he held his {rroiind with quiet firmness until the troops
who were charfjed to escort the new Nawab arrived at
Lucknow. At their appearance the followers of Wazir
Ali dispersed without firing a shot, and in January, 1798,
Sadat Ali was proclaimed Nawab amidst the general re-
joicing of his new subjects. Wazir Ali was pensioned off
at Banaras, and Shore, who had just been made Lord
Teignmouth, set sail for England in March of the same
year.
His successor was the Earl of Momington, elder brother
of the great Duke of Wellington, a Mend and follower of
Pitt, a trained statesman from his youth up, a ripe scholar,
and for four years a leading member of the Board of
Control. In the middle of May, 1798, Lord Momington
landed at Calcutta, charged from home with strict in-
junctions to keep the peace, to abstain from meddling in
the aflairs of native states, and to use aU lawful means of
replenishing the Company's exchequer. On his way out,
however, he had touched at the Cape ; and there by a
happy chance he had learned, through various channels,
enough to convince him that a policy of peace and re-
trenchment was far less feasible than it seemed at home.
He had not been three weeks in India when the hour
for action proved to be already ripe. In a proclamation ■
which had found its way to Calcutta, General Malartic,
Governor of the Mauritius, announced that Tippu had
proposed a close alliance with the new French Republic
against the English in India. Other tidings from trust-
worthy sources strengthened Lord Momington's uewly-
formed design to forestal the plotting ruler of Maisor.
The Madras Government, unready as ever, was for tem-
porising with its former foe ; but Lord Momington would
take no excuses for unwise delay, and General Harris was
ordered to get the Coast Army, as that of Madras was
called, ready for the coming march on Seringapatam.
Meanwhile the new Governor-General set himself to
SIR JOHN SHORE AND MARQUIS WELLESLEY. 271
■win the alliance or secure the neutrality of the Marathas
and the Nizam. From the Peshwa, whose counsels were
once more guided by Nana Farnawis, he got little but fair
words and vague assurances ; nor would Sindia pledge
himself to aid the Enghsh against the threatened advance
from Kabul of Ahmad Shah's successor, Zaman Shah.
With the Nizam, on the other hand, Lord Momington
was more successful. By the 10th October a strong
brigade from Madras was encamped at Haidarabad, and a
few days later the whole of the French officers in the
Nizam's service had gotten their dismissal from the Nizam
himself. The twelve thousand Sepoys, whom M. Ray-
mond had trained on the French system, laid down their
arms, and the Nizam concluded a treaty which placed six
thousand English Sepoys at his disposal, and made Eng-
lish influence for ever dominant at Haidarabad.
Tippu, on the other hand, was steadily rushing upon
his doom. To all Lord Mornington's warnings, remon-
strances, demands, proposals, he sent nothing but
evasive or misleading answers, while he was engaged in
sending messages for help to Zaman Shah, to the French
Government, and to General Buonaparte, who had already
landed in Egypt. Neither Nelson's great victory at
Aboukir, nor the alliance of Turkey with England against
the French, opened his eyes to the rock on which his
consuming hatred of the English was about to hurl him.
At last, by the beginning of February, 1799, the Governor-
General's forbearance could hold out no longer. The
English army was ordered to advance. If Tippu were yet
willing to treat for peace, he might send an embassy to
General Harris, who was now on the road to Seringapatam,
at the head of six thousand white troops, about fifteen
thousand Sepoys, and a hundred guns, to say nothing of
the twenty thousand horse and foot furnished by the
Nizam, and commanded in part by English officers.
" Citizen Tippu," however, as his French fiiends from
272 HISTORY OF INDU.
the Mauritius called him, would not be warned in time.
With the courage of his race and the craft of an old
soldier, he left part of his army to watch the English
advance, while he hurried westward with the flower of his
troops to overwhelm Stuart and Hartley on their advance
with the Bombay column from Kananor. In spite of the
timely warning received from the Rajah of Kiirg, it was
all that Hartley's brigade could do to hold the hill of
Sidasir on the 6th March against Tippu's repeated onsets,
until General Stuart could hasten up to the rescue. Half-
an-hour afterwards the assailants fell back with the loss
of two thousand men. A few days later the baffled Sultan
went off to meet General Harris advancing by way of
Bangalor.
Again defeated at Malavalli on the 27th, Tippu fell
back to a strong position in front of his island capital.
But the English general declined to fall into his opponent's
trap. Instead of marching straight forward through a
country laid waste by Tippu's orders, General Harris led
his troops round across the Kavari by a ford lower down
the stream. The Bombay column was thus enabled to join
him, and the troops obtained supplies from fruitful dis-
tricts untouched by the ravages of war. Tippu's rage at
being thus outwitted passed ere long into sheer despair as
the invaders slowly neared Seringapatam.
On the 17th April the siege began. Three days later
Tippu asked for tenns. Two millions sterling and the
cession of half his remaining dominions was the price
named. His proud spirit rose in revolt against such an
issue to the dreams and eil'orts of many years. " Better,"
he exclaimed, "to die fighting than live dependent on the
mercy of infidels." On the 3rd May 4,400 English
troops advanced under General Baird, a former prisoner
in Seringapatam, to storm the city through a breach
made by the English guns. A short but shai-p struggle
placed the stormers on the top of the breach. The two
Sm JOHN SHORE AND MARQUIS WELtESLEY. 273
columns then turned off in opposite directions, pushing
forward through every obstacle untQ they met again at the
eastern gateway, thinned in numbers, but flushed with
entire success. The Sultan's palace was in their hands,
and his troops were become a flying mob. But Tippu
himself could not be found. At length from amidst a
gateway heaped with dead his lifeless body was dragged
out under the guidance of a wounded servant, and duly
recognised by one of his chief officers. It was buried the
next day with all mihtary and religious honours in the
tomb which held the remains of Haidar Ali. The guns
which boomed their last tribute to the brave but savage
bigot who had lost all that his father had won, were
strangely echoed by the dreadful thunder which crashed
that evening over Seringapatam.
The loss of the English in this memorable siege
amounted to 1,164 kiUed or wounded. A vast store of
guns and booty to the value of a million sterhng fell into
the victors' hands. General Harris was raised to the
peerage, and Lord Momington became Marquis WeUesley,
in return for the blow thus stricken at the fiercest enemy
our ai-ms had ever encountered in Southern India. Part
of Tippu's conquered kingdom was divided between the
English and the Nizam, Baji Rao having declined the
conditions on which he also would have received his share.
The remainder was reserved under English commissioners
for the child-heir of the former Rajah, whom Haidar Ali
had dispossessed. Tippu's family were removed as state-
pensioners to Vellor. Seringapatam itself was placed
under the wise control of Colonel Ai-thur WeUesley, who,
as commander of the Nizam's infantry, had borne a pro-
minent part in the siege.
If the timely triumph of our arms in Maisor had crushed
one foe, it deferred the day of settlement with another.
AVhile General Harris was besieging Seringapatam, Sindia
and the Peshwa were plotting to aid Tippu and hamper
T
274 HISTORY OF INDIA.
the English by an inroad into the dominions of Nizam
Ali. But the happy issue of Lord Wollesley's vigour and
his General's soldiership struck them with alarm, and they
hastened to congratulate the Governor-General on suc-
cesses which not only deprived them of a useful all}', but
established a closer union between the Nizam, their in-
tended victim, and the Enghsh, their most dreaded rivals.
A year after the conquest of Maisor, the Nizam's immunity
from Maratha aggression was finally assured by a treaty
which placed at his disposal a strong Sepoy contingent,
commanded by English officers, in exchange for his share
of the country won from Tippu in the last nine years.
Another blow to Maratha influence had meanwhile been
dealt by Lord Wellesley. In 1799 the httle State of
Tanjor, founded by Shahji, father of the great Sivaji, in
the middle of the previous century, passed under English
rule with the consent of its rightful Kajah, who retained
the outward show of a sovereignty whose burdens were
transferred to his English friends. A like course was
taken with the little Mohammadan State of Surat. This
was presently followed by the absorption of the Carnatic,
whose late Nawab, the son of our old nominee Moham-
mad Ah, had been caught secretly plotting with our dead-
liest enemy, the late Sultan of Maisor. His successor re-
fusing the terms offered by Lord Wellesley, a titular
Nawab was set up in his cousin's place on a handsome
pension, but without a shadow of his grandfather's power.
Strong-handed measures these may be called ; but no one
■who has carefully read the foregoing narrative need shrink
from allowing to Lord Wellesley and his masters at home
the full benefit of the pleas on which those measures were
carried out. Had English statesmen been less scrupulous
the Carnatic might fairly have been absorbed many years
earlier, whether as a stroke of policy or an act of justice.
Our countrymeji in India had long been drifting into a
position from which they could never with any safety re-
SIR JOHN SHORE AND MAEQUIS WELLESLEY. , 275
cede. Each step forward in self-defence brought them
nearer some new danger, with which common prudence
forbade them to palter on pain of losing the ground already
won. It was Lord Wellesley's great merit, that, foresee-
ing the danger, he at once proceeded to pluck from that
nettle the flower safety. Knowing that the last great
struggle with the Marathas must soon come, he took care
that the rulers of British India should not be drawn into it
unprepared or haU'-hearted. With him at any rate fore-
warned was to be forearmed.
BOOK V.
THE ENGLISH PARAMOUNT.
CHAPTER I.
MAEQVIS WEIXESLEY TO 1805.
Not long after the conquest of Maisor the peace of the
kingdom was for a while disturbed by the movements of
Dhimdia Wagh, a Maratha freebooter, who, with the help
of a few thousand horsemen recruited from Tippu's army,
defied or baffled bis pursuers, until Colonel Wellesley, in
September, 1800, brought liim to bay." With the utter
rout of Dhiindia's force and the death of its leader ended
a rising which, but for WeUesley's unflagging pursuit,
might have involved the Dakhan in gi-ave disorders at a
verv- critical time. Lord WeUesley's hands indeed were
just then full of work. A strong force of Europeans and
Sepoys under General Baii-d was shipped off t« aid the
Turks in driving the French out of Egypt. Baird's march
through the Desert of Suez was a feat of which any anny
might have been proud ; and the mere announcement of
his approach decided the French commander to sue for
peace. But for the disloyal conduct of the English
Admiral commanding in Eastern waters, Wellesley would
have forestalled the conquest of the Mauritius by nine
years, and most of the losses inflicted on our shipping by
French privateers would thus have been prevented.
278 HISTORY OF IXDU.
To counteract French intrigues in Persia, and to keep
Zaman Shah from troubling India, was another scheme on
■which Wellesley had set his heart. A native Indian
Wakil, or envoy, had already sounded the Shah of Persia,
and sown dissensions between the Afghan monarch and his
brother, which compelled the former to retire across the
Indus, leaving Labor and the sun'ounding country imder
the rule of his chosen lieutenant, the gi-eat Sikh warrior
Eanjit Singh. In 1800 a splendid embassy, laden with
choice gifts and friendly overtures, was led to Teheran by
Captain John Malcolm, the young Sepoy officer who had
disarmed the French contingent at Haidarabad and shared
in Colonel Wellesley's advance to Seringapatam. The
descendant of Nadir Shah readUy agreed to befi-iend the
English, commercially and politically, to the best of his
power, to expel every Frenchman from Persia, and to aid
his new friends in keeping all invaders from the north-
west out of Hindustan.
Lord Wellesley's forecasting statesmanship had also
employed itself in the direction of Audh. After half a
centuiT of vai-ying fortunes, the Sikh followers of Guru
Govind had come to sway a wide tract of country from the
Indus eastward to the Sew;ilik Hills.* A Sikh aUiance
with Sindia against the Enghsh or the Mohammadans was
once more upon the cards, and the Governor-General was
resolved to make Audli contribute its due share to the
maintenance of English rule against all assailants. The
murder of his agent, Mr. CheiTy, at Banaras by the fol-
lowers of the pensioned rebel Wazir Ali, revealed at once
the poKtical weakness of the reigning Nawab of Audh, and
the readiness of his subjects to invite help fi-om Kabul.
Wazir Ali was soon hunted down, but thenceforth Welles-
ley made up his mind to place the military defence of
Audh on a much firmer footing than heretofore.
His demands to this end — demands fully justified by the
* Cunningham's " History of the Sikhs," chap. 5.
MAEQUIS WELLESLET. 279
terms on which alone the Nawab held his kingdom as an
English fief — were parried for a time by evasive ofiers
and sounding remonstrances. These in their turn were
answered by a judicious mixture of threats and warnings,
until, in November, 1801, Sadat Ali signed the treaty
which placed under our absolute sway the districts of
Korab, Allahabad, Rohilkhand, Gorakpiir, and Azimgarh,
in return for the guaranteed defence of his domiaionsfrom
foreign attack.*
Amidst the cares and entanglements of foreign politics,
Wellesley found time for matters nearer home. His own
energy braced up all around him for the work entrusted
to their hands. His reforms in the Company's chief civil
and criminal courts followed the lines first traced by War-
ren Hastings, and freed those courts from their old con-
nection with the Calcutta Council. His encouragement of
private trade between England and India in India-built
ships, however gratifying to the English Ministry and
advantageous to the English nation, gave sore offence to
the Court of Directors, whose old dislike to " interlopers "
no arguments could overcome. His noble scheme for the
founding of a great college in Calcutta, at which the young
" writers " destined for the Indian CivU Service might
complete the training best suited alike to Enghsh gentle-
men and to the future rulers of a great English dependency,
was marred in its working by the same authorities, who
restricted the new college to the teaching of the native
languages, and founded at Haileybury a separate college
for the instruction of young men going out as writers to
the East. In his choice of public servants for high or
difficult posts Lord Wellesley found his own eflbrts for the
public good continually thwarted by the jobbery or the
prejudices of East India Directors at home. Annoyed at
all these tokens of ill-will or blindness on the part of his
* The Hon. Henry Wellesley, afterwards Lord Cowley, was em-
ployed by his brother to conclude the treaty.
280 nisTonY OF india.
official employers, ho wrote home to resign his office in
1802. But the Court of Directors were loath at the last
moment to lose the services of a great and successful
ruler, and WeUesley was entreated to stay out in India
another year.
The answer reached him early in 1803, on the eve of a
decisive fight for empire between the English and the
Marathas. After the death of Nana Famawis in 1800,
the great Maratha power, which for so many years he had
striven to weld together in the Peshwa's name, began at
once to break up under influences always active in Indian
history. As with the Greeks of old and the Italians of
the Middle Ages, so it happened now with the princes of
Maharashtra. The Sindia and the Holkar of that day —
the latter, Jeswant Rao, was a bastard son of the upright
and able Tukaji — brought great armies against each other,
which were defeated each in its turn. Ere long the
Peshwa, Baji Rao, paid with defeat and temporary exile
the penalty of espousing the cause of Sindia. A rival
Peshwa was set up in his stead. In this strait Baji Rao
no longer rejected the English alliance on the terms
already offered by Colonel Close. By the treaty of Bassein,
concluded in December, 1802, he agreed to maintain an
English contingent, to assign for their support the revenues
of certain districts, and to wage no war nor advance any
claims on other powers without leave from the Governor-
General.
In May of the following year Baji Rao returned to Piina
under the escort of his new aUies. By this well-timed
stroke of policy, which made the English paramount in
Southern India, Lord Wellesley strengthened his own
hands for the coming struggle with his Maratha neigh-
bom's. It was not long before the coUision came. Sindia
had already formed a league with the Bhosla Rajah of
Berar against the Peshwa. Holkar stiU held aloof from
either side, waiting to see how matters would turn out.
MABQUIS WELLESLEY. 281
But Smdia"s tlireatening movements and his insolent
answer to Colonel Collins, the English Resident at his
court, convinced Wellesley that no more time should be
lost in idle negotiations. The Peshwa himself, with his
usual treachery, was urging Sindia to move at once upon
his capital. General Wellesley, as great in politics as in
war, made one last appeal to the confederate chiefs, but in
vain. At length, on the 3rd August, 1803, Collins tiu-ned
his face from Sindia's camp, and war was formally de-
clared.
The first blow was struck by General Wellesley against
Ahmadnagar, which surrendered on the 12th August, the
same day on which General Lake laid siege to the fortress
of Aligarh, on the road from Agra to Dehli. On the 23rd
September General Wellesley, on his march from Auranga-
bad, found 50,000 of the enemy strongly posted around
the village of Assai. His own troops were only about
4,500 in all, but their leader knew his men, and would
lose no time in waiting for the rest of his army. His
trained soldiers marched steadily forward across the
Kaitna under a heavy fire from Sindia's guns, overbore the
sturdy resistance of Sindia's best infantry, and carried all
before them by dint of hard fighting and cool pluck. The
Maratha hosts broke and fled in all directions, leaving
thousands dead or wounded on the field, and ninety-eight
guns with much booty in the victors' hands. This splendid
victory, if bought at a heavy price in killed and wounded,
gave the death-blow to Sindia's hopes in Southern India.
Meanwhile in Gujarat one strong place after another
had fallen to our arms. In the following month the pro-
vince of Kattak on the borders of Orissa was conquered
from the Rajah of Berar. At the same time the conqueror
of Assai was pressing forward without a check into the
heart of the Rajah's kingdom. The capture of Asirgarh by
Colonel Stevenson had already deprived Sindia of his last
stronghold in Khandesh. By the victoiy of Argaum on the
282 mSTOKY OF ixdia.
28tli November, and the subsequent capture of Gawilgarh,
General Wellesley drove Raguji Bhosla to sue for peace,
which he was fain to purchase with the cession of Kattak,
and all Berar to the west of the Wardah river.
Lake's campaign in Upper India had been equally suc-
cessful. The fall of AHgarh on the 29th August, one of
the most brilliant feats in the annals of war, was followed
up by Lake's victorious advance on Dehli. Crushing the
resistance of a Maratha force outside the capital, he
entered it on the 11th, took the blind old emperor out of
his prison, and once more placed him on his nominal
throne. On the 10th October the Marathas were heavily
beaten near Agra, and the glorious city of Akbar and
Shah Jahan surrendered a few days after to its bold
assailant. On the 1st November at the village of Laswari
occun-ed the hardest fight of the war. Lake's cavalry
were hurled in vain against entrenchments bristling thick
with guns, and defended by the flower of Sindia's army,
the trained battahons of De Boigne. At length his
infantry, who had been marching ever since midnight,
came upon the field, and after a brief rest swept forward
on their fateful errand. Sindia's soldiers fought like
heroes, and feU in heaps around their guns. But the
shattered ranks of EngUsbmen and Sepoys still held their
way under the leader whom they loved, until the crowning
victory of the war was theu's, and seventy-one guns had
been counted among its fruits. Their own loss was
great ; but the strength of SLndia was broken, and before
the year's end he had concluded a treaty which shipped
him of all his possessions between the Jamna and the
Ganges, of nearly all his conquests in Rajputana, of the
districts around Baroch and Ahmadnagar, and ^iped out
all his claims on the Peshwa, the Gaikwar of Gujarat, and
the Nizam.
Of the provinces thus wrested from Sindia and the
Bhosla, Kattak was incorporated with Bengal ; the Doab
MABQX7IS WELLESLEY. 283
between the Jamna and the Ganges became the North-
Western Provinces ; and the Baroch district was annexed
to Bombay. The fortress and district of Ahmadnagar
were handed over to the double-dealing Peshwa ; and the
new Nizam, who had just mounted the throne of his father
Nizam Ali, was placed in possession of western Berar.
Thus, in less than five months, Wellesley had overthrown
the fabric of Mariitha power, and placed all India from the
Satlaj to Cape Comorin at the feet of an English company
which less than fifty years earher bad been chased with
ignominy out of Bengal. Reheved by the fruits of Eng-
lish valour fi'om their forced allegiance to Maratha lords,
the Jat and Eajput princes of Rajputana were glad to ac-
cept the milder guardianship of their Enghsh neighbours.
The Sikh chiefs of Sirhind likewise transferred their
allegiance from the Marathas to Lord WeUesley ; and the
Maratha Gaikwar of Gujarat readily placed his own
dominions under the partial control of that power which
alone could shield him from foreign attacks.
It only remained to deal with Holkar, whose ambition
had been fed by the plunder of Sindia's territory during
the late campaign, and by the possession of an army
largely recruited from the troops of his defeated rival,
until he began to talk of fighting Lake for the lordship of
Hindustan. At length his insolence reached so lofty a
pitch, that Lord WeUesley was driven to fight him in self-
defence. By the middle of April, 1804, the armies of
Lake and WeOesley began moving fi-om opposite quarters
against their new foe. Holkar at once fell back from
Jaipur across the Chambal, but the approach of the rainy
season ere long sent Lake into cantonments ; and Colonel
Murray, who commanded the southern or Gujarat column
in the absence of General Wellesley, soon followed his
example. A few thousand of Lake's Sepoys under Colonel
Monson still kept the field. At length that oflicer's rash
advance into the heart of Holkar's country became seriously
284 HISTORY OF INDIA.
hindered by want of supplies and the harassing attacks of
Holkar's numerous horse. An ill-judged retreat, con-
tinued for nearly two months through a flooded country,
from an enemy less to be dreaded for courage and soldier-
ship than mere numbers, brought him back to Agra by
the end of August with a scanty remnant of his brave
Sepoys ; their guns, baggage, and supplies all captured or
left behind them on the road.
Emboldened by this disaster, Holkar sent his horsemen
swarming across the Chambal up to Mattra and even to
Dehh. On the 7th October 20,000 of his best troops with
100 guns suddenly appeared before that city, into which
nothing barred their way but a Sepoy garrison far too small
for the works they would have to defend. But for ten days
the brave Colonel Ochterlony held his perilous post, until
Lake himself came up from Agra to his relief. Balked of
his prey, Holkar turned off to plunder the Doab and lay
waste its fruitful fields. The English, however, kept him
moving at his best pace. While Lake with his " gal-
loper " guns and light horse was in full chase of Holkar's
cavalry. General Fraser on the 13th November came up
with the enemy's main body drawn out under the guns of
Dhig, a fortress belonging to the revolted Rajah of Bhart-
pur. The rout of the Marathas and the captm-e of half
their guns once more attested the prowess of English
troops against formidable odds, the Sepoys vj-ingwith the
famous 70th Highlanders in deeds of daring.
Four days later the dashing Lake burst upon Holkar's
camp at Farokabad on the Ganges. The surprised
Maratha had barely time to escape with a few followers,
while the rest of his troops were ridden down and scat-
tered with heavy loss. The fall of Dhig on the 23rd
December tempted Lake to enter on the siege of Bhartpiir
itself, where Holkai-'s infantry and his Jat allies had re-
solved to make their last stand. But even Lake's heroes
failed to atone for the want of heavy guns and skilled
MARQUIS WELLESLET.
285
engineers. Four desperate assaults, resulting in the fruit-
less massacre of his best troops, at length convinced him
that one of the strongest fortresses in all India was not to
be taken by heroism alone. By this time, however, the
Rajah of Bhartpiir had grown weary of fighting for his
new friends. His prayer for peace was granted on pay-
ment of a moderate fine, and Lord Lake- — for such he had
GATE OF FORT BHAHTPUU.
now become — returned to his former business, the pursuit
of Holkar.
For a time it seemed as if Sindia also, in revenge for
the transfer of his late capital, Gwalior, to another chief,
was again to be reckoned among our foes. The march,
however, of an English force into Bundalkhand made him
pause on the road to ruin ; and Lord Wellesley was about
2flG HISTORY OF INDIA.
to strengthen his wiser leanings by the timely cession of
Gwalior, when a new Governor-General landed at Fort
William on the 30th July, 1805 ; and " the glorious little
man," who in seven years had by force of arms or treaties
placed all India within the Satlaj at his feet, went home to
give account of his stewardship to those who had sent him
out. A series of attacks in Parliament and a vote of censure
from the Company whose possessions he had doubled,
whose power he had raised to the highest pitch, were the
immediate rewards of a career as statesmanlike as that of
Hastings, as all-subduing as that of Lord Dalhousie.
The attacks in Parliament were merited and signal failures,
but it took the Company thirty years to discover their
mistake, and to cancel the outrageous verdict of 1807 by
voting a statue and a grant of £20,000 to the great man,
whose " ardent zeal to promote the well-being of India,
and to uphold the interest and honour of the British
empire," ought to have been acknowledged many years
before.
287
CHAPTER n.
LORD CORNWALLIS AND LOBD MINTO 1805-1813.
At the urgent prayer of the India House, Lord Com-
wallis resumed his former post with the avowed intention
of turning back upon the footsteps of his bolder prede-
cessor. The prevailing " frenzy of conquest " had to be
subdued, the Company's treasury to be saved from utter
exhaustion. But the climate of Bengal played havoc with
the old man's weakened frame ; and he died in October,
leaving Sir George Barlow, the senior member of his
council, to carry on the mistimed and unseemly task of
unpicking the web so carefully woven by Lord Wellesley.
A pohcy of wanton self-repression, of cowardly retreat
from fancied dangers and real responsibilities, took the
place of that bolder, wiser, more merciful system, by which
Wellesley had striven to raise up in Lidia a power strong
enough to keep the peace among its turbulent neighbours,
and to rescue vast tracts of country from the miseries of
chronic strife.
A fresh treaty concluded with Sindia in November not
only yielded everything he had asked for, but released him
in part from the restraints imposed by that of Arjangaum.
Jeswant Kao Holkar, whom the unflagging Lake had
chased across the Satlaj, was glad to make peace on any
terms with his pursuers ; but even the mild conditions
granted by Lord Lake were yet further tempered by Sir
George Barlow, who gave Rampiir back to Holkar and
left the hapless Rajah of Bhiindi to his fate. In the same
spirit our good friend the Rajah of Jaipiir, in spite of
288 HISTORY OF IXDU.
pledges received from Lake and Comwallis, was aban-
doned to the ruthless inroads of the Maratha chief whose
final overthrow he had helped to hasten. It was a sore
trial for the conqueror of Jeswant Rao to bear the npbraid-
ings and disregard the prayers of the Eajah's envoy ; but
his orders were too. clear, and all that he could do to show
his indignation he did, by resigning his civil powers into
the hands of the Governor-General.
The fruits of this retrograde policy were not long in
showing themselves. No sooner had Lord Lake turned
his back on the Panjab than Holkar resumed his plun-
dering habits at the expense ahke of friend and foe. His
bands of freebooters swept the country clean from the
Beyas to the Jamna. Hariana was laid waste. From the
helpless Rajah of Jaipur he extorted large sums of money ;
and the Rajah of Bhimdi had cause to rue the day when
he held out to Monson's soldiers a helping hand against
their ravenous pursuers. Rajputana itself was ere long
torn to pieces by intestine strife, and the ruin caused by
the quarrels of Rajput princes was completed by the ruth-
less raids of Sindia's Marathas and Amir Khan's Pathans,
whose progi'ess was everywhere marked by blazing villages
and wasted fields. In the midst of a career of boundless
rapine and wanton bloodshed Holkar fortunately went
ra\-ing mad from drink, and his death in 1811 relieved
Central India of one of the worst scourges which his
country had ever produced.
Even the Peshwa began to kick against the barriers set
to his ambition by the treaty of Bassein. The demand
for chauth was heard again from Puna, and Baji Rao
claimed his share of the spoils which Sindia and Holkar
were carrying off from the plundered princes and peoples
of Rajputana. The Nizam also, who had succeeded his
father, Nizam Ali, in 1803, was already intriguing with
the Maratha princes against the power to which he owed
his throne. But there was a point in his policy of for-
LOBO CORNWALLIS AND LORD JJlNrO. 289
bearance beyond which even Sii- G. Barlow would not
go. Both the Nizam and the Peshwa were compelled to
retrace their steps, and to learn that the bolder spirit of
Lord Wellesley had not quite departed from the counBels
of his successor.
Meanwhile a new and unforeseen danger threatened the
government of Madras. With more than the usual folly
of military martinets, Sir John Cradock issued a set of
orders regarding uniform,* which the Sepoys of Madras
read as a wilful attempt to tamper with the creed and
customs of their race. It was about the time when the
first English missionaries had entered in Bengal on the
work which St. Francis Xavier had begun, and the Pro-
testant Swartz, after a long interval, had continued in
Southern India. The Company's servants looked on the
new movement with natural dread, as a likely danger to the
public peace ; and the labours of Carey, "Ward, and Marsh-
man had to be carried on from the Danish settlement of
Serampur on the Hiighli. Idle or evil tongues thereupon
spread through Southern India the report of a set design
on the part of the EngUsh against the creeds and customs
of their native subjects. The spirit of distrust and dis-
affection thus engendered among the Sepoys was carefully
fomented by the Mohammadans in Vellor, where Tippu's
family were allowed to dwell at no great distance from the
Maisor frontier. One of the Sepoy regiments in that for-
tress had been largely recruited from the ranks of Tippu's
own army.
In the early morning of the 10th July, 1806, the two
native regiments at Vellor rose in sudden mutiny, attacked
the European barracks, where some 370 men of the 69th
Foot were yet sleeping, poured volley after volley into their
helpless victims, and shot down thirteen officers coming
* The Sepoys were forbidden to wear earrings on parade, and were
ordered to shave their chins, and exchange their turbans for a kind of
shako.
U
290 HISTORY OF INDIA.
out of their rooms. Happily for the survivors, help was
soon to reach them in their desperate need from the gar-
rison of Arkot, eight miles off. At the head of a squadron
of his 19th Dragoons and a few galloper guns, Colonel
Gillespie rode at his best pace to the scene of massacre,
blew open the gate of the fortress, and with the help of
those inside dealt heavy destruction on the mutineers,
hundreds of whom were shot, sabred, or taken prisoners.
Of the 69th, however, ninety-five men and officers lay
dead, and ninety-one wounded. Lord WiUiam Bentinck,
Governor of Madras, was summarily ordered home with-
out a hearing, as an abettor of Sir J. Cradock in the
measures which directly provoked so dire a disaster ; and
the Maisor princes incurred no other penalty for their mis-
chievous intrigues than a compulsory change of abode to
Calcutta.
In the following July Lord Minto, a statesman of some
promise and of twelve months' special experience at the
Board of Control, took his seat as Governor- General in
the room of Barlow, transferred to Madras. Enjoined to
uphold the policy of peaceful isolation, he soon found
cause to unlearn the lessons dinned into his ears at home.
The great Sikh leader, Ranjit Singh, was already seeking
to extend his strong sway over the independent Sikh and
Mussulman princes of Sirhind. Twice within as many years
he had crossed the Satlaj in furtherance of his ambitious
schemes. But at length the boldness of his movements
and the prayers of his intended victims for English aid
decided Lord Slinto to enforce the powers ascribed to him
by the suppliant chiefs themselves. To this course he
was all the more strongly impelled by Buonaparte's bril-
liant successes in Europe, and the peace he had just con-
cluded with tlie Russian Emperor. Mr. Charles Metcalfe,
one of Lord Wellesley's ablest pupils, was sent to talk over
matters with the bold but clear-headed ruler of the Panjab;
and when Ranjit Singh would have shaken himself free
LORD COSNWALLIS AND LORD MINTO. 291
from English dictation by another raid across the Satlaj,
Colonel Ochterlony marched to the protection of the
Sirhind chiefs. Thanks to this movement and Metcalfe's
patient firmness, a treaty was concluded in Apiil, 1809,
by which Ranjit Singh withdrew all claims to sovereignty
over the Sikhs on the south bank of the Satlaj. At the
same time the outposts of his new allies were advanced
fi-om the Jamna to the borders of the Panjab.
Other missions were despatched about this time to the
Shah of Persia and to Shah Shuja, brother and successor
to Zaman Shah of Kabul. The latter came to nothing by
reason of the Afghan monarch's flight from before the arms
of his victorious brother.* Colonel Malcolm's second
mission to Teheran for the purpose of thwarting French
intrigues was forestalled by that of Sir Harford Jones,
sent out direct from England. The Shah, however, greeted
Malcolm as an old friend, and the rival envoys had become
rivals only for the common good, when a new ambassador
was sent out from England to supersede them both.
Meanwhile Lord Minto had put forth a hand of power to
save the Rajah of Berar from the at^tacks of the turbulent
RohiUa chieftain Amir Khan, who, in Holkar's name, had
led out a host of armed freebooters to spread havoc
through the fairest provinces of Central India. The
invader was driven back to Indor, and his own capital
occupied by Colonel Close. But either from misplaced
lenity or undue deference to the supposed desires of the
India House, Lord Minto withdrew his troops from the
conquered country, and the work which he had well-nigh
completed had to be taken up afresh on a larger scale by
his successor.
In the same year, 1809, a vigorous onslaught was made
on the plague of piracy in Eastern waters. The chiefs of
Kolapur and Sawantwari were forced to surrender their
* The Hon. Monntstuart Elphinstone, afterwards Governor of
Bombay, was at the bead of this mission.
u2
292 HISTORY OF INDIA.
ports on the Malabar coast, whence pirate vessels had long
been wont to prey upon the smaller trading craft that
passed within their reach. In the Persian Gulf, where
swarmed the Arab pirates who had lately murdered the
crew of an Enghsh merchant ship, a British force from
Bombay beat up their chief haunts, burnt their vessels,
and stormed the great pirate stronghold of Kas-al-khaima.
A like success rewarded Lord Minto's efforts to protect
English trade from the French privateers in Eastern
waters. The island of Bourbon was captured with little
loss in 1810, and before the year's end the Mauritius also,
after a brief struggle, submitted to our arms. The turn
of Java came nest. Its Dutch possessors, aided by their
French allies, made a gallant defence ; but Gillespie's
timely daring and the strength of the army led by Sir
Samuel Achmuty soon overcame their resistance, and
Java for a few years passed under the Company's rule.*
Meanwhile Sir George Barlow's government had been
harassed by an outbreak in Travankor and a serious mutiny
among its own officers. The former was suppressed in the
beginning of 1809, and the country placed under English
management. The mutiny, which had been provoked by
the Madras governor's headlong zeal in a good cause, and
fanned by his ill-timed severity, blazed up to such a
height that the officers at Seringapatam turned their guns
on the troops sent against them. At last, however, the
mutineers returned to their senses. A few of the ring-
leaders were cashiered or dismissed, and the . remainder
were glad to sign a pledge binding them to obey and
support the government of Madi-as. Sir George Barlow
was recalled.
Not long after the conquest of Java, Lord Minto found
himself confronted by a new foe. For some time past
the Pindaris, a vast brotherhood of mounted freebooters,
who were ready to fight under any standard for the chance
* Sir Stamford Raffles was appointed GkJvernor.
LOBD COKNWALLIS AND LORD MINTO. 293
of nnbounded plunder, had been playing a more and more
prominent part in the wars of native princes. As Free
Lances, they had fought for the Peshwa at Panipat, had
shared in the frequent struggles of the Sindias and Holkars
in Hindustan and Southern India, and made war on their
own account with every native prince whose weakness at
any moment seemed to invite attack. Daulat Rao Sindia
himself was fain to pui'chase immunity from their plun-
dering raids by the cession of several districts to one of
their most daring leaders, Chitu, a Jat by birth, and a
robber from his earhest childhood. Another chief, the
RohUIa Kharim Khan, had become a terrible thorn in
Sindia's side before that potentate could succeed in crip-
pling him. Amir Khan himself was in league with the
Pindaris, by whose help he had risen to power. From the
hills and glens of Central India thousands of armed ruf-
fians sallied forth year after year in quest of plunder,
sparing no cruelty to gain their ends, and widening the
circle of their ravages with each new raid, until in 1811
the smoke of their camp-fires could be seen from Gaya
and Mirzapiir.
Had Lord Minto deemed himself free to act as he chose,
this last outrage would have been speedily avenged. But
his hands were tied by the Court of Directors, and while
he was waiting for leave to punish the Pindaris according to
their deserts, the order for his recall — a measure forced
upon the India House by the Prince Regent — was aheady
on its way to Calcutta. In October, 1813, he set sail for
England, to enjoy the earldom which he had faii-ly earned ;
and the Eai-1 of Moira went out as Governor-General in
his stead.
In the course of the same year the question of renewing
the Company's charter, under fresh conditions, for another
twenty years provoked some warm debates in Parliament.
In vain did the Company and their friends plead for the
maintenance of all the privileges secured to the former in
294 HISTORY OF INDIA.
1793. Against them were arrayed the whole strength of
Lord Castlereagh's ministry and the growing influence of
the trading classes throughout the country. The trade
with India was thrown open to all Englishmen alike ; but
the Company were allowed for twenty years longer to keep
in their own hands the sole right of trade with China.
An EngUsh bishop was appointed to the new-made see of
Calcutta. In respect, however, of their political power,
the Company escaped the doom which some of the leading
statesmen in England would have enforced against them
even then.
293
CHAPTER III.
MABQTJIS OF HASTINGS 1813-1823.
The peace which Lord Minto had left behind him was not
to remain long unbroken. Among the legacies bequeathed
to his successor was a deepening quarrel with the Gurkha
rulers of Nipal, a long tract of Himalayan upland over-
looking the fertile plains and forests of Audh. In the
course of four centuries the Rajput settlers in Nipal had
brought under their sway the old Mongol dwellers Ln the
hills, and out of their several conquests arose one Gurkha
kingdom, whose power in the nineteenth century was felt
from the highlands of Bhotan to the banks of the Upper
Satlaj. For some years past the Gurkhas had carried
their inroads across the Audh frontier, even at last into
the districts which the Nawab had ceded to Lord Wel-
lesley. Lord Minto's demands for restitution of the con-
quered vUlages had been treated with contempt, and when
Lord Moira reached Calcutta, the quarrel was already
swollen to a dangerous head.
He renewed the former demand in terms whose meaning
could not be mistaken. A murderous attack on the pohce
at Botwal, in Ghorakpur, was the only yet decisive answer
from Khatmandii. In the autumn of 1814 a strong
British force, in four columns, marched on as many points
of the Nipalese frontier. The campaign, which had been
skilfully planned, was to be cruelly blundered in the pro-
secution. Gillespie's headlong valour before the hill-fort
of Kalanga cost him his life, and involved his troops in
heavy losses. Not till after a second assault, attended
HISTORY OF INDIA.
with issues yet more fatal, did the remnant of the Gurkha
garrison make their escape from a post no longer tenahle.
Gillespie's successor wasted months in blockading another
fort, which a little more energy would have placed much
earlier in his hands. General Wood and General Marley
vied with each other in losing great opportunities and
throwing discredit upon the British name. But for
Ochterlony's successful advance from Ambala into the
troubled sea of green hiUs about Simla, and his brilliant
capture of Malaun, on the Upper Satlaj, from the ablest
of the Gurkha leaders, Amar Singh, this first campaign
against a foe weak in numbers, but strong in native cou-
rage and natural resources, would have ended in utter
failure, if not in something worse.
The capture of Malaun, however, following on Colonel
Gardiner's successes in Almora, changed the face of
affairs, not only in Nipal, but all over India. The native
princes, who were aU but ready for one more struggle
against the Enghsh power, drew back at the last moment
from a course so dangerous to themselves ; and the
Gurkha Rajah of Nipal was about to make peace with
Lord Moira, when the fiery Amar Singh persuaded him to
renew the war. It was not long, however, before he had
reason to repent his rashness. Early in 1816, Sir David
Ochterlony, who had just gained his knighthood, marched
at the head of a powerful army on Khatmandii. After a
brief but vain resistance, the Gurkha Government saved
their capital by signing a treaty which stripped them of
nearly aO their lowland possessions, turned Kamaun into
an English province, and placed an English Resident, for
the first time, at the Nipalese court. For his successful
conduct of the war Lord Moira was created Marquis of
Hastings.
To thwart Maratha intrigues and punish Pindari aggres-
sions was the Governor-General's next aim. In spite of
hindrances offered by his own council and the Court of
MAEQUIS OF HASTINGS. 297
Directors, he set himself to revive and extend Lord Wel-
lesley's policy of securing peace and order throughont
India by means of treaties, which placed one native prince
after another in a kind of vassalage to the paramount
power that ruled from Fort WUliam. The Pathan ruler
of Bhopal, in Miilwa, claimed and received the formal
protection of a power to which his successors have proved
their loyalty under every trial. In 1816, Appa Sahib, the
Regent of Berir, agreed to maintain a British contingent
at his own cost. By means of a httle timely compulsion,
the able and accomplished Elphinstone baffled for a while
the plots which the Peshwa, Baji Rao, and his villainous
accompUce, Trimbakji Dangha, had woven against their
English aUies. The treaty of June, 1817, left Lord Has-
tings master of Sagar and Bundalkhand, while it bound
the Peshwa to renounce his friend Trimbakji, his own
claims to the headship of the ilaratha League, to make no
treaties with any other native prince, and to accept in all
things the counsel and control of the Company's Govern-
ment. Hard as these terms may seem, there was no
choice, averred Lord Hastings, between thus crippling a
secret foe and depriving him of the cro^NTi he had fairly
forfeited.
Meanwhile Lord Hastings' fearless energy had already
saved the Rajputs of Jaipiir from further sufterLng at the
hands of their Pathan oppressor. Amir Khan, and forced
from Sindia himself a reluctant promise to aid in suppres-
sing the Pindari hordes, whose fearful ravages had at
length been felt by the peaceful villagers in the Northern
Sarkars. In the autumn of 1817 Hastings took the
field at the head of an army which, counting native con-
tingents, mustered nearly 120,000 strong, with some
300 guns. From east, west, north, and south, a dozen
columns set forth to hunt down the merciless ruffians who
had so long been allowed to harry the fairest provinces of
India. In spite of the havoc wrought among our troops
298 HISTORY OF INDIA.
by the great cholera outbreak of that year, and of a sudden
rising among the Marutha princes for one last struggle
with their former conquerors, our arms were everywhere
successful against Marathas and Pindiiris alike. The
latter, hunted into the hills and jungles of Central India,
found no safety anywhere except in small bodies and con-
stant flight. Chitu, one of their boldest leaders, was
chased from Rajputana into Gujarat, from Gujarat into
Malwa, where for several months he roamed fhrough the
dense jungles with hardly a companion, until one day his
body was found half-eaten by tigers in the heart of the
Satpiira Hills. The other leaders were all slain or cap-
tui'ed, their followers dispersed, and the famous robber-
league passed into a tale of yore.
Not less swift and sure was the punishment dealt upon
the Maratha leaders who joined the Peshwa in his sudden
uprising against the British power. His late submission
had been nothing but a mask for renewed plottings.
Elphinstone, however, saw through the mask which had
taken in the confiding Malcolm. Before the end of
October an EngUsh regiment, summoned in hot haste from
Bombay, pitched its camp at Kirki, about two miles from
Piina, beside the small Sepoy brigade already quartered
there. In the first days of November Baji Rao began to
assume a bolder tone as his plans grew ripe for instant
execution. On the 5th, a body of Marathas attacked and
destroyed the Residency, which Elphinstone had quitted
in the nick of time. A great Maratha army then marched
forth to overwhelm the little garrison at Eirki, before fresh
troops could come up to its aid from Siriir. Elphinstone,
however, who knew his foe, had no idea of awaiting the
attack. Colonel Burr at once led out his men, not 3,000
all told. A brilliant charge of Maratha horse was heavily
repulsed by a Sepoy regiment, and the English steadily
advancing drove the enemy from the field.
A few days later General Smith, at the head of a larger
MAKQUIS OF HASTINGS. 299
force, advanced on Pima, occupied tlie city, and pursued
the frightened Peshwa from place to place. The heroic
defence of Karigaum, a small village on the Bhima, by
Captain Staunton and 800 Sepoys, with only two light
guns, against 25,000 ITai-athas during a whole day, proved
once more how nobly native troops could fight under
English leading.*
Happily for Staunton's weai-y and diminished band,
Smith came up the next morning, and the desponding
Peshwa continued his retreat. Turn where he would,
there was no rest for his jaded soldiers. Mnnro with a
weak force, partly of his own raising, headed him on his
way to the Camatic, took several of his strong places, and
drove him northwards within reach of General Smith.
On the 19th February, 1818, that officer overtook and
routed the flying foe at the village of Ashti. Bapu Gokla,
the Peshwa's staunchest and ablest follower, perished in
the field, while covering the retreat of his cowardly master.
For some weeks longer Baji Rao fled hither and thither
before his resolute pursuers. But at length all hope for-
sook him as the circle of escape grew daily narrower ; and
La the middle of May the gi-eat-grandson of Balaji Vish-
wanath yielded himself to Sir John Malcolm at Indor, on
terms far more Mberal than he had any reason to expect.
Even for the faithful few who still shared his fortunes due
provision was made at his request. He himself spent the
rest of his days a princely pensioner at Bithur, near
Cawnpore ; but the sceptre which he and his sires had
wielded for a hundi-ed years passed into English hands,
while the Kajah of Satara, the long-neglected heir of the
house of Sivaji, was restored to the nominal headship of
the Maratha power.
Meanwhile Appa Sahib, the usurping Rajah of Berar,
had no sooner heard of the outbreak at Pima, than he,
* Only three English officers remained tmhort out of eleven. Of the
men 175 were killed and wounded.
300 mSTOEY OP INDIA.
too, like the Peshwa, tkrew oif his mask. On the evening
of the 24th Novemher, 1817, his troops, to the number of
18,000, suddenly attacked the weak English and Sepoy
force of 1,400 men vrith four guns, posted on the Sita-
baldi Hills, outside Nagpiir. A terrible fight for eighteen
hours ended in the repulse of the assailants, with a loss to
the victors of more than 300 men and twelve oflicers. A
few weeks later Nagpur itself was occupied after another
fight. Even then the Rajah might have kept his throne,
for his conquerors were merciful and hoped the best.
But they hoped in vain. It was not long before Appa
Sahib, caught out in fresh intrigues, was sent ofi' a pri-
soner towards AUahabad. Escaping from his captors, he
wandered about the country for several years, and died at
Labor a pensioner on the bounty of Ranjit Singh.
The house of Holkar had also paid the penalty of its
rash resistance to our arms. After the murder of Tulsi
Bhai, Regent of Indor, by the chiefs of her own army, in
1817, they spumed all Malcolm's offers of peace, and from
a strong position at Mahidpur, on the banks of the Sipri,
awaited the attack of a Madras column led by Sir Thomas
Hislop. Under a withering fire from the Maratha guns
Hislop's Sepoys crossed the river in the face of 20,000
foes, and carried all before them with the bayonet, after a
hard struggle which cost the victors 778 men. Sixty-
three guns with all the camp stores fell into their hands.
On the 6th January, 1818, the young Holkar was glad
to sign a treaty which placed him and his heirs under
English protection at the cost of his independence and of
some part of his realm. Luckily for himself, Sindia
had remained quiet, if not quite loyal, throughout this
last struggle between the English and his Maratha kins-
folk.
Thus in one short and decisive campaign, the great
Maratha power, which had survived the slaughter of
Panipat, fell shattered to pieces by the same blow which
MARQUIS OF HASTINOS. 801
crushed the Pindaris, and raised an English merchant-
company to the paramount lordship of all India. The last
of the Peshwas had ceased to reign, the Rajah of Berar
was a discrowned fugitive, the Rajah of Satara a king
only in name, -while Sindia, Holkar, and the Nizam
were dependent princes who reigned only by suiferance of
an English Governor-General at Calcutta. The Moghal
Empire lingered only in the Palace of Dehli ; its former
viceroy, the Nawab of Audh, was our obedient vassal ;
the haughty princes of Rajputana bowed their necks,
more or less cheerfully, to the yoke of masters merciful as
Akbar and mightier than Aurangzib. Ranjit Singh him-
self cultivated the goodwill of those powerful neighbours
who had sheltered the Sikhs of Sirhind from his ambitious
inroads. With the final overthrow of the Marathas a new
reign of peace, order, and general progress began for
peoples who, during a hundred and fifty years, had lived
in a ceaseless whirl of anarchy and armed strife.
With the capture of Asirgarh in April 1819, the fighting
in Southern India came to an end. The country con-
quered from the Peshwa was placed under the fostering
care of Mountstuart Elphinstone, who afterwards, as
Governor of Bombay, completed the healing work which
he and his able subalterns had begun from Piina. Sir
Thomas Munro, one of the ablest soldier-statesmen of his
time in India, became ere long Governor of Madras, and
reformed the land-revenue system of that Presidency in
accordance with the lessons he had learned in the Ceded
Districts.* About the same time Mr. Holt Mackenzie
entered on the task of reassessing the land in the North-
western Provinces, on the basis of a settlement neither
with the Rayat as in Madras, nor with the Zamindar as in
Bengal, but with the head-man of every village community.
* The Rayatwiri system, of which Munro was the chief advocate,
was, broadly speaking, a yearly settlement of the land- revenue with
each rayat or cultivator.
302 HISTORY OF INDIA.
In Orissa, on the other hand, a popular outbreak, caused
by excessive demands for land-revenue, had to be put down
by force, and the assessments to be curtailed by nearly
one-half.
Free at length from warlike cares. Lord Hastings threw
himself with unflagging zeal into the task of governing his
broad dominions. His great capacity for hard work was
enhanced by a thorough mastery of details and the liberal
spirit of his measures for the good of his native subjects.
He helped to found schools for the teaching of native
children and youths. A native newspaper — the first of its
kind — started by the Serampiir Mission, received his
steady support. The EngUsh press in India became for a
time practically free. He restored the canal which had
once suppHed Dehli with water from the Upper Jamna.
Calcutta itself was sweetened with broad streets and
shady squares, and adorned with a noble strand. In 1819,
with the help of Sir Stamford Raffles, he made up for the
loss of Java, given back to the Dutch, by purchasing from
its native ruler the neighbouring island of Singapore.
His own example did much to raise the tone of the Indian
services, and to strengthen their hold on the goodwill of
the people at large.
The only cloud upon these later years was caused by
the embarrassed state of the Nizam's affairs. The great
banking firm of Palmer & Co. had become a power at
Haidarabad — a power which Sir Charles Metcalfe at length
pronounced so dangerous, that Lord Hastings was com-
pelled to step in between the impoverished Nizam and his
more and more grasping creditors. The claims of the
former to a yearly tribute for the Northern Sarkars were
wiped out for ever by the payment of a large sum down,
most of which went to extinguish the loans due to the
English bankers. A year afterwards the house of Palmer
& Co. stopped payment, while the Nizam appears to have
reaped no lasting good from a compromise which placed
MARQUIS OF HASTINGS. 303
liim more than ever at the mercy of his turbulent barons,
and of native usurers far less scrupulous than those from
whom he had been rescued.
Lord Hastings' services to the Company were crowned
by his marked success in matters of finance. In spite of
costly wars and other somxes of increased outlay, the
Indian revenues before his retirement were yielding a
yearly surplus of two millions, and the Company's credit
stood at a premium of fourteen per cent. AU this, how-
ever, added to his former deserts, failed to avert from
Lord Hastings the attacks which awaited him on his
return to England in 1823. The coolness of the India
Board became open hostility in the Court of Proprietors,
whose vote of virtual censure for his conduct in the affairs
of Palmer & Co. was only softened by his acquittal of any
corrupt intent. It was not till after his death in 1827
that the India House made some amends for its past un-
fairness by voting the payment of £20,000 to his son.
804
CHAPTER IV.
LOItD AMHERST AND LORD WILLIAM BENTIXCK 1823-1835.
For the next few months after the departure of Lord
Hastings, the govemment of British India rested in the
hands of Mr. Adam, senior member of the Calcutta Coun-
cil. His rule was chiefly memorable for the harsh treat-
ment of Mr. SUk Buckingham, the able and independent
founder of the Calcutta Journal, whose comments on
oflicial acts and persons provoked Lord Hastings' narrow-
minded successor to decree his banishment and virtual
ruin. The press of India, as if imfit to exercise its new-
bom freedom, was once more placed under close super-
vision by a ruler bred in the despotic traditions of other
days. Meanwhile the sudden death of Lord Londonderry
— the Lord Castlereagh of earlier times — had determined
Canning, the Governor-General elect, to resume his place
in the English Ministry, instead of giving India the bene-
fit of his commanding talents. At length Lord Amherst,
the late ambassador to China, was appointed to the vacant
post, and reached Calcutta on the 1st August, 1823.
His arrival proved to be the forerunner of a new war.
The conquest of Assam by the Burmese in 1822 had
inflamed the ambition of a power which, from small begin-
nings, had in the last seventy years established its sway
over the neighbouring provinces of Arakan, Pegu, and
Tenasserim. The successors of Alompra had even begun
to dispute our right to various provinces of Bengal ; and
an insolent letter to Lord Hastings in 1818 — so insolent
that he treated it as a mere forgery — was ere long fol-
LORD AMHERST AND LORD WILLIAM BESTINCK. 305
lowed bj' an mroad into Kachar. At length, in 1823,
English forbearance gave way before a Burman attack
upon Shapiiri, a British island off the Ai-akan coast. It
was soon recovered by a British force ; but the warnings
addiessed to the Court of Ara were answered only by the
despatch of Maha Bandiila, the great Burman general,
with an army intended for the conquest of Bengal and the
capture of the Governor-General himself.
In February, 1824, Lord Amherst declared war in his
turn against the insolent barbarians who had mistaken
forbearance for fear. Bandiila's progress in Bengal was
soon checked. Before the middle of May a strong force
from Madras, under Sir Archibald Campbell, captured
with unexpected ease the important town of Rangoon,
near the mouth of the Irawadi. After the long inaction
caused by the heavy rains of a tropical summer — inaction
relieved only by the capture of several places on the
Tenasserim coast, and of a few stockades near Rangoon —
Campbell's army marched out to attack Bandiila, who
barred the way inland with 60,000 of his rabble warriors,
mostly entrenched behind strong stockades. By the middle
of December the last of these had been carried, and the
boastful Burman retired with aU haste to his stockaded
fortress of Donabyu, forty miles up the Irawadi. The
repulse of a weak brigade from this place in March of the
following year was retrieved by its capture in April, under
the eyes of Campbell himself, who brought back his troops
and heavy guns betimes to Cotton's aid.* Before the end
of April, Prome itself, the capital of Lower Burmah, was
occupied by an English garrison, and the Burmese began
to treat for peace.
By this time Colonel Richards had driven the Burmese
out of Assam, and gained firm possession of its capital,
Rangpiir. On the other hand an attempt to reach Mani-
* The death of Bandiila during the attack contributed greatly to
Campbell's success.
306 HISTORY OF INDIA.
piir from Kachar had been utterly baffled by the hardships
of a march in the rainy season through an unbroken suc-
cession of steep hills and hoUows, covered with pathless
forests and beset with deep quagmires. Yet more disas-
trous was General Morrison's march from Chittagong into
Arakiin in 1825. Precious time was lost upon the road ;
the May rains involved a halt at the town of Arakan ; and
the subsequent sickness among our troops slew one-fourth
of the whole number, and disabled nearly all the rest
The country was conquered, but of the 10,000 men who
invaded it, very few were fit for duty when the order
came for their return home.
Once more, towards the end of 1825, Sir A. Campbell
moved out against the Burmese, for their haughty monarch
would not yet stoop to make peace on the only terms
which Campbell was empowered to offer. After carrying
a few more stockades and routing a fresh Barman army
near Prome, the English general marched on to Yandabii,
within sixty miles of Ava itself. At length the king, fairly
frightened, agreed to purchase peace by the cession of
Assam, Arakan, and Tenasserim, and the payment of a
million sterling towards the expenses of a war which had
cost the victors nearly thii'teen millions. Even at that
price, however, the conquered provinces have proved well
worth the conquering. The rice of Arakiin and the tea of
Assam are important staples of Indian commerce ; and
the goods that pass through Maulmain, the chief port of
Tenasserim, akeady amount in value to nearly a million
a-year.
One sad incident sprang out of this prolonged and mis-
managed war. The Madras Sepoys went cheerfully across
the sea to fight the new enemy, but their high-cast«
brethi'en of Bengal, with their religious dread of the
"black water," could only be forwarded to the field by land.
Several regiments had akeady started in 182i, and others
were awaiting the order to start. But the arrangements for
LOED AMHERST AND LORD ^MLLIAM BENTINCK. 307
their march mvolved them in expenses to which they had
never been accustomed. The news from the eastern
frontier of Bengal, magnified by distance and transmission
fr'om mouth to moutli, struck terror into the hearts of the
Sepoys waiting for their tm-n at Barrackpore. Tlieir
reasonable complaints unheeded by the Government, they
began to nurse all kinds of unreasonable fancies. They
believed that Government, in default of baggage-cattle,
was about to carry them to Rangoon by sea. Discontent
soon ripened into open mutiny, in which the 47th Regi-
ment took the lead. Its officers, new to their men, for the
whole native army had just been remodelled, failed to
check the mutinous spirit which now found vent in open
refusals to attend parade. On the morning of the 2nd
November, the 47th Regiment were confronted by the
troops which Sir Edward Paget, the Commander-in-Chief,
had brought up overnight to Barrackpore. The Sepoys,
hke passionate children, refused either to march or to
ground their arms. The two English regiments wheeled
aside to let the guns come forward, ready loaded with
grape. At the first discharge, the frightened Sepoys cast
away their unloaded muskets, and fled hke scared sheep,
followed by the troopers of the body-guard. A good
many were shot down, sabred, or drowned in the Hiighh ;
the ringleaders were afterwards sentenced to death or
hard labour ; and the regiment itself was struck off the
list of the Bengal army. There was no more mutiny for
many years to come ; but the verdict of a com-t of inquin-
betokened the general sympathy with men whose im-
soldierly outbreak had been largely owing to their mas-
ters' own fault.*
WTiile the Burmese war was yet on foot, the growing
insolence of the new Rajah of Bhartpiir had led to a
second siege of that renowned fortress, with happier issues
* " The mutiny," said the Court, " was an ebnUition of despair at
being compelled to march without the means of doing so."
x2
308 HISTORY OF INDIA.
than those of 1805. In December, 1825, 20,000 men,
with a hundred guns, marched out under Lord Combermere
— the Sir Stapylton Cotton of the Peninsular war — and
the fortress which Durjan Sal had deemed impregnable,
and on which our heaviest guns could make no impres-
sion, was carried by storm after a wide gap in its defences
had been opened by the bursting of a great mine, on the
18th January. Durjan Sal atoned for his rashness with
the forfeiture of his realm, which was handed over to the
nephew he had supplanted ; and the dismantling of Bhart-
piir itself once more proclaimed to the native princes the
irresistible, if sometimes dormant, strength of their new
masters.
In 1827 the East India Company lost one of their ablest
servants, and Madras her most popular governor, by the
death of Sir Thomas Munro. In the same year Elphin-
stone was succeeded in Bombay by the soldier-statesman,
Sir John Malcolm. It was in 1826 that Reginald Heber,
the scholarly, pious, gentle, and justly-beloved Bishop of
Calcutta, passed away to his rest, after three years of un-
wearied labour throughout a diocese then comprising the
whole of British India. In this year also died Daulat Rao
Sindia, leaving his dominions to be ruled by his widow, in
the name of her adopted son, Jankaji Sindia. About the
same time the government of Nagpur was handed over to
its young Rajah, whose subjects soon found cause to regret
the change of rulers. The death of the gallant Ochterlony
in 1826 bad led to the removal of Sir Charles Metcalfe
from Haidarabiid to Dehli, and the good eflect of his wise
counsels soon passed away from the feeble government of
the Nizam. After a farewell progress through the upper
provinces. Lord Amherst himself retired from office and
from India in February, 1828.
Lord Amherst was succeeded by that Lord William
Bentinck whose career as Governor of Madras had closed
so abruptly after the mutiny of VeUor. Coming out again
LORD AMHERST AND LOED WILLIAM BENTINCK. 309
to India full of humane intentions, and charged with strict
orders to keep down the public expenses, he had the good
fortune to achieve his twofold mission during a period of
general peace. Before the end of 1829 he had issued the
decree which made Satti, or widow-burning, thenceforth
punishable as murder throughout British India. lu the
following year he began a merciless war against the Thags,
a brotherhood of secret murderers who, in the name of
their goddess Kali, were wont to strangle in lonely places
the unwary travellers whom they had agreed to rob. The
task of hunting down these ruffians was entrusted to the
active Major Sleeman, who, aided by a staff of picked
subordinates, and the clues supplied by one of their own
number, tracked them into their secret haunts, caught
several thousands of them in a few years, and succeeded
in utterly suppressing their dreadful trade.
In unwilling obedience to orders from England, Lord
William Bentinck carried out the ungracious task of cut-
ting down the pay of his native troops in Bengal. Officers
and men were alike indignant at a measure which seemed
to them a wanton breach of faith, a measure which applied
only to the stations nearest Calcutta. But the Court of
Directors paid no heed to their just complaints, and Lord
Wilham Bentinck saw no way of shirking the enforcement
of a cheese-paring thrift which saved his masters about
twenty thousand a-year, and rendered himself for a time
the worst abused Englishman in all India. In curtailing the
allowances of civil servants, his lordship acted with much
less reluctance, and his masters with better excuse. An-
other of his reforms laid him open to just censure : the
aboUtion of flogging in the native army, while the punish-
ment was still retained for our white troops, did honour to
his humanity at the expense of his political foresight.
His humanity was employed to better purpose in open-
ing to the natives those higher ranks of the civil service
from which Lord Cornwallis had shut them out. Native
310 HISTOBY OF L\DIA.
judges sat once more in civil courts ; native Christians
were encouraged to take office ; and the old Hindu laws of
inheritance were shorn of the provisions which virtually
forbade the descent of Hindu property to heirs of another
creed. Some useful reforms were made in the adminis-
tration of justice, and the native languages of India sup-
planted Persian in the courts of law. A medical college
for the natives was founded in Calcutta, and the study of
Western lore and science was encouraged by the introduc-
tion of English teaching into the State-aided schools — a
measure largely due to the zeal of such men as Mr.
Macaulay and Sir Charles Trevelyan.
In 1833 Lord Bentinok gave the word for a revised
settlement of the North-Western Provinces on the lines
laid out in 1822. Under the able lead of Mr. Robert
Mertins Bird, the work of survejing and reassessing the
land of a province larger than England and Wales, and
more populous than Great Britain, was carried through in
eight years, with all the care and thoroughness demanded
for the survey of a private estate. The trade of the
country received a new impulse from Lord Bentinck's
efforts in its behalf. In 1830, EngHsh steamers, bmit at
Calcutta, made their way for the first time up the Ganges
to Banaras and Allahabad. The same year also witnessed
the successful voyage of a Government steamer, the "Hugh
Lindsay," from Bombay to Suez, at the top of the Red
Sea. Had Lord Bentinck's efforts to shorten the journey
from England to India been promptly seconded by thoj
Court of Directors, twelve years would not have been lost!
in following up the issues of an experiment which markedl
out the Isthmus of Suez as the best available road for the|
Indian mails.
In his dealings with native princes, Lord WiUiam Ben-
tinck combined the utmost forbearance with a certain I
share of fij-mness on fit occasions. The Rajah of Jodpurl
was replaced on the throne from which his rebeUiousj
LORD AMHEEST AKD LORD WILLLMI BENTIKCK. 311
barons had ousted him. The mother of the young Sindia
■was bidden to hand over the reins of government to her
son. In the aflaii-s of Jaipur and Bhopal, the Governor-
General declined to interfere for the maintenance of order
and the protection of their rightful lords. But the reek-
less and incapable Nawab of Audh was sharply rebuked
for his shortcomings, and plainly warned against persist-
ence in misrule. An armed force under General Fraser
was sent to punish the refractory Rajah of Kurg, and his
little state was brought under English rule. Kachar was
annexed on the death of its childish ruler. A serious
outbreak in Maisor, provoked by the misrule of its in-
capable Rajah, had to be put down by a strong force from
Madras ; and the power which he had abused, in spite of
repeated warnings, passed into English hands, in accord-
ance with the terms laid down by Lord WeUesley.
A rising of Mohammadan fanatics at Baraset, not far
from Calcutta, disturbed the peace of the empire in 1831.
Inflamed by the preaching of one Titu Mir, a disciple of
Saiyid Ahmad, founder of the new Wahabi sect in the
Panjab,* they proclaimed a holy war against the infidels
in Bengal, and launched into aU manner of outrages on
their Hindu neighbours. Their suppression was followed
in the next year by a rising among the Kols, an aboriginal
race in the hills of Western Bengal. These rude foresters
fell upon the Hindu settlers and underlings whose en-
croachments and hard dealings had aroused their wrath ;
and many fields were wasted, villages burnt, and people
slain, before the revolt was put down, and their country
placed under a special commissioner. A few years earlier,
the brave young soldier, Outram, had reclaimed the Bhil
tribes in the forests of Khandesh from a state of lawless
* In 1827 Saiyid Ahmad attacked Peshawar, wMch Ranjft Singh
had lately won from the Afghans. The attack was renewed in 1830
with more success, but he was soon driven out again, and was slain in
Kashnu'r in 1831 by the Sikh troops.
312 HISTORY OF INDIA.
savagery into one of peaceful industry and ]o3'al sub-
misBion to our rule.
About tbe same time Captain Hall was engaged in
taming the Mairs who inhabited the hills of Mairwara, on
the borders of Ajmir. Another wild race, the Khands of
Giimsar in the Northern Sarkars, was being gradually
weaned by the labours of Captains Campbell and Mac-
pherson fi'om the time-honoured practice of manuring
their fields witli the flesh of human beings offered up as
a sacrifice to the Earth-goddess. Noble efforts were also
made by several of our countrymen, with the warm en-
coui-agement of Lord WUham Bentinck, to check the pre-
valence of female infanticide among the Rajput tribes in
various parts of India. But a practice born of caste-
pride, and of hard social customs which forbade the mar-
riage of a Rajput girl with one of lower rank, which made
her marriage with an equal ruinously expensive, and
which exposed her to the deep disgrace of remaining
unmarried, was not to be uprooted all at once ; and the
good work begun by Mr. Duncan in the first years of this
century was very far from completion when Lord Bentinck
left India.
Meanwhile, however, the results of two wars between
Russia and Persia had made Russian influence supreme
at Teheran,* and reawakened among EngUsh statesmen
those fears of coming danger to India which Lord Wel-
lesley's and Lord Minto's efforts had lulled to sleep. It
was resolved to send a mission to Ranjit Singh by way of
the Indus, with the twofold object of strengthening our
relations with an old and useful ally, and of bringing the
Amirs of Sindh within the pale of Anglo-Indian diplomacy.
The Talpiir chiefs from Baluchistan, who had wrested
Sindh from the Afghans in 1786, did all they dared to
thwart the poUcy of their English neighbours ; but Lieu-
* The treaty of Turkomanchai in 1828 had given Russia a large
slice of Persian territory in addition to the conquests of 1812,
LORD AMHERST AND LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK. 313
tenant Burnes succeeded in passing up the Indus and
delivering his presents to the ruler of the Panjab.* Ranjit
Singh received him with open arms, and the good results
of then- friendly intercom-se were followed up by a formal
interview between the ambitious Sikh and the Governor-
General at Kiipar, on the Upper Satlaj, in the same year.
Sixteen thousand of his best soldiers, drilled by French
and Italian officers, attended the former to the place of
meeting, while a choice brigade of Enghsh troops dis-
charged the like duty for Lord WUham Bentinck.
With his usual good sense, the great Sikh ruler fell in
with the views of his Enghsh ally, and Shaikai-piir, for
which he had been hankering, was saved to the Amirs of
Sindh. The treaties concluded with him and the Amirs
opened up the Indus and the Satlaj for the first time to
English trade, and the Maharajah of Labor found fresh
employment for his restless soldiery in resisting the at-
tempts of the Afghan, Dost Mohammad, to regain posssB-
sion of Peshawar.
At length in March, 1835, Lord William Bentinck
sailed for England, leaving behind him the memory of a
wise, humane, and successful governor, who had made
the welfare of his subjects his foremost aim, struck heavy
blows at barbarous usages, reformed the civil service,
encouraged modern enterprise, and restored the Indian
revenues to a state of health. The last years of his rule
were memorable for the debates in the English Parhament
which issued in the extinction of the Company's last re-
maining privileges in respect of trade. With the renewal
of their charter in 1833 for another twenty years, the
China monopoly ceased to exist, and the trade with
Chinese ports was thrown open to Enghshmen of every
class. From that time also our countrjnnen became free
to settle and buy lands in any part of India, while no
* He was accompanied by Captain Wood of the Indian navy, who
afterwards explored the sources of the Oxus.
814 HISTORY OF INDIA.
native could any longer be debarred from public office by
reason of bis religion, bii'tbplace, colour, or descent. The
legislative control of tbe Governor-General in Council over
the minor governments was for the first time secured by
the same act, and an English lawyer of acknowledged
repute was added as a fourth member to the Calcutta
Council. The first holder of this new office was Sir.
Macaulay, the briUiant essayist and historian of a later
day, whose Indian labours were long afterwards to bear
rich fruit in the penal code first drafted by his own
hands.
315
CHAPTER V.
LORD AUCKLAND 1836-1842.
Mr. Mountstuart Elphinstone having declined on the
plea of ill-health to take Lord William BentLnck's place,
the Government of India was for a time entrusted to the
able hands of Sir Charles Metcalfe. But his very first
measure, the passing of an Act which made the press of
India as free as it is in England, gave such deep offence to
the Court of Directors, that all his past services were for-
gotten ; and the Government of Madi-as, which had just
fallen vacant when Lord Auckland went out to India, was
refused to one whom the dii-ectors a few months before
would have confirmed in his acting appointment, if they
could. In March, 1836, Lord Auckland reached Calcutta,
and soon afterwards Sir Charles exchanged the service of
the Company for a useful and distinguished career under
the Crown.
The first two years of Lord Auckland's rule were
marked by nothing more important than his interference at
Lucknow on behalf of the rightful heir to the throne of
Audh, against a rival set up by the widow of the late
Nawab. In 1839 the intrigues of the Rajah of Satara,
whom Lord Hastings had restored to freedom and kingly
honours, were brought to a final stop by his dethronement
and removal to Banaras.
By this time, however. Lord Auckland's policy had
committed India to a war, whose ultimate fruits were to
be gathered amidst vain regrets for the loss of many hves,
millions of money, and much of our national honour. In
316 HISTORY OF INDU.
1837 Captain Burnes, Lord Auckland's envoy, was kindly
received at Kabul by Dost Mohammad, the Barakzai chief,
who had avenged his brother's cruel death by overturning
the dynasty of Zaman Shah. Not content with governing
the unruly Afghans, Dost Mohammad was eager to enlist
our aid in his efforts to recover the rich Peshawar valley
from the Sikhs. A Russian emissary was then at Kabul.
The English envoy's mind was sedulously fiUed with
warnings of the danger which threatened India from Rus-
sia's progress in the East. But Bumes's enand was
purely commercial : and Lord Auckland answered the
Amir's overtures by a plain demand for the dismissal of
his Russian visitor, and a flat refusal to aid him in any
way against our Sikh ally.
Meanwhile the Shah of Persia, with the help of Russian
money and Russian officers, was laying siege to Herat, the
Gate of Afghanistan. Dost Mohammad's brothers, the
princes of Kandahar, were treating for a Persian alliance ;
and the Amir of Kabul himself was ere long turning to the
same quarter for the help denied him from Simla. In
this state of affairs Lord Auckland chose the very worst of
the courses which lay open to him. He resolved to aid
Shah Shuja in recovering the kingdom from which he had
been more than once expelled by Dost Mohammad. By a
treaty concluded with the royal esUe and Ranjit Singh he
bound himself to support the latter ia his efforts to replace
the imbecile Shah Shuja on the throne of his father,
Ahmad Shah. In the teeth of every argument, of warn-
ings from every quarter against the foUy of waging an un-
provoked war at such a distance from his own frontier, in
a barren and difficult country peopled with hardy, warlike
mountaineers, Lord Auckland prepared to assemble an
army for the invasion of Afghanistan. The Calcutta
Council, the Com-t of Directors, nearly all the foremost
statesmen in both countries, every one, in short, except
Lord Auckland, his secretaries, a number of young Indian
LORD AUCKLAND. 317
officers eager for distinction or adventure, and Sir John
Hobhouse, President of the Board of Control, was against
a move not more impolitic than unjust. But the Governor-
General had taken it into his head that Kussian intrigues
could be thwarted only by the dethronement of Dost
Mohammad ; nor could even the successful defence of
Herat by the daring Lieutenant Pottinger avail to turn
him irom his purpose. The treaty with Ranjit Singh had
pledged the English to help Shah Shnja with nothing
more than money and English officers, and all danger on
the side of Persia had been removed by the retreat of the
Persian army from Herat. Shah Shuja himself had no
wish to reappear among his former subjects as a king who
owed his crown to British bayonets. But Lord Auckland
had made up his mind to act with vigour, and before the
end of November, 1838, the " Army of the Indus " lay en-
camped on the sandy plain of Firozpiir.
For some time all went swimmingly enough. The
Amirs of Sindh were coerced into forwarding the designs
of the Governor-General. From Karachi and Firozpiir
the two divisions of the invading army held their way
towards the passes in the Sulaiman Hills, which lead from
the Sindh frontier into Afghanistan. The long march
through dreary deserts and dangerous defiles was accom-
plished painfully but successfully under the supreme com-
mand of Sir John Keane. Before the end of April, 1839,
Shah Shuja at the head of his own troops had entered
Kandahar, where early in the following month he was
joined by both divisions of Keane's army.
After a rest of some weeks the army resumed its
march. On the 22nd July the gates of the strong fortress
of Ghazni were blown in by our engineers, and the place
itself stormed by a bold rush with little loss to the victors.
Dost Mohammad sued for peace, but the ofi'er of a digni-
fied retreat on Indian ground was spurned by a king who
had ruled his subjects with marked ability for more than
318 HISTORY OF INDIA.
ten years ; and he fled, hotly pursued by Outram, to the
wilds of Bamiiin. On the 7th August his victorious rival
rode through the streets of Kabul, escorted by British
troops, amidst the silence or the muttered curses of the
people he had not seen for thirty years, to his palace-
citadel the Bala Hissiir.
Meanwhile the Sikh and Afghan force under Colonel
Wade had won its way from Peshawar through the Khaibar
Pass to Jalalabad, reaching Kabul on the 3rd September.
Ranjit Singh himself, the old one-eyed " Lion of the Pan-
jab," had died in June at Labor, after a masterful reign of
about forty j-ears, leaving his sceptre in the nerveless hands
of his son Karak Singh. Thus far the army of the Indus
had done its work ; and the honours showered on Lord
Auckland, Sir John Keane, Colonel Wade, Mr. Macnagh-
ten, and other chief actors in the late events, marked the
high if not excessive value placed on their deserts. In
September the Bombay troops began their homeward
march, capturing on their way the town of Khelat, whose
Baluchi master had been caught intriguing against Shah
Shuja's allies. Some ten thousand Bengal troops re-
mained behind to gaiTison the chief places in Afghanistan,
while the care of our political interests was made over
to Lord Auckland's Chief Secretary, Sir WiUiam Mac-
naghten.
For some time longer matters in the conquered country
went on as smoothly as could be desired. Dost Moham-
mad, hunted from place to place, yielded himself a
prisoner to Sir William Macnaghten in November, 1840,
and withdrew to India on a handsome pension. A few
disturbances about Kandahi'ir, Khelat, and elsewhere, were
easily suppressed. In 1841, however, the storm of popular
discontent began to blow more meaningly. A great rising
among the Khilji tribes near Kandahar was quelled only
after two battles and much loss of Ufe. Later in the year
they rose again, attacked our convoys, and spread the
LORD AUCKLAND. 319
flame of revolt from the Khaibar to Kabul. Sale's brigade
on its way to India fell back to Jalalabad. The Afghan
hatred of the infidel, fed by the loose behaviour of English
officers towards Afghan women, could no longer contain
itself. At length, in the beginning of November, Mac-
naghten and Sir Alexander Bumes, who had been knighted
for his many services, were roughly awakened from their
dreams of a security in which clearer-sighted officers had
long ceased to believe.
On the morning of the 2nd, Bumes was attacked and
mm-dered in his own house by a mob of furious Afghans,
in revenge for the oflfence he had given an Afghan noble.
No effort, worth the naming, was made either by Mac-
naghten or the EugUsh officers who commanded in the
cantonments to save their helpless countryman, or to
avenge his death. The insurrection, which might easily
have been quelled at once, spread fast and far. In the
teeth of every military dictate the Bala Hisstir was left to
the sole charge of Shah Shuja, and five thousand Enghsh
soldiers and Sepoys were shut up in a weak cantonment,
while swai'ms of well-armed Afghans cut off their chief
supphes, and beat back the troops sent out to dislodge
them. The blundering of the leaders cowed their men,
the supplies ran short, the sharp Afghan ■ninter was set-
ting in, and the enemy grew bolder day by day. Mac-
naghten did his best to avert by diplomacy the disastrous
issues of his own blindness and of General Elphinstone's
unfitness for such a need. But English honesty was no
match for Afghan cunning. On the 11th December it was
agreed that all our troops should be allowed to quit the
country, the Afghans finding supplies and carriage for that
purpose ; that Dost Mohammad should be set free ; and
that the Kabul gaiTison should march out in three days,
leaving four officers as hostages in the hands of Akbar
Khan, the son of Dost Mohammad, and the acknowledged
leader of his revolted countrymen. A more disgraceful
320 HISTORY OF I>fDIA.
treaty had never perhaps been signed by Englishmen ; bnt
Macnaghten, a brave man of soldierly instincts — he had
once been a soldier himself — saw no other means of escape
from utter ruin, and the word went forth for the evacua-
tion of all our strong places in Afghanistan.
Days passed however, and still the promised supplies
were not forthcoming. In despair Macnaghten strove by
secret negotiations to sow discord among the Afghan
leaders. Akbar Khan got scent of what was passing, and
laid a trap into which the ill-fated envoy fell but too
readily. At the interview to which he had been invited
on the 23rd December, the officers who went with him
were suddenly seized by some of Akbar's men, and Mac-
naghten himself, after a short struggle with the angry
chief, was shot dead by Akbar's own hand. The deed ap-
pears to have been done upon the spur of the moment,
and it is only fair to suppose that the seizure rather than
the death of so important a leader was the real object of
his murderer's attack.
Not an effort was made to avenge Macnaghten's death.
Matters only grew from bad to worse. There was no lack
of brave hearts and cool heads in the luckless garrison,
but the folly or the helplessness of their leaders would
have paralysed the bravest troops. In vain did Pottinger
urge a stand for hfe or death in the Bala Hissar. The
negotiations were resumed, and Afghan insolence rose
with each fresh default of English honour. At last, on
the 6th January, 1842, General Elphinstone marched out
of his cantonments, leaving behind him all his treasure,
stores, and ordnance, except six guns, while four officers
remained as hostages in Akbar's hands. The snow lay
thick on the ground, and the neighbouring hills swarmed
with Afghan marksmen thirsting for EngUsh blood.
On the 13th January one Enghshman, Dr. Brydon,
half dead from wounds and exhaustion, was seen guiding
his jaded pony towards the gates of Jalalabad. Of all the
LORD AUCKLAND. 321
five thousand soldiers, with twice as many camp-followers,
who had set out a week before, he alone succeeded in
reaching an English garrison, to tell the dismal tale of his
companions' fate. With the exception of a hundred and
twenty men, women, and children, whom Akbar Khan had
taken prisoners on the way, and a few score Sepoys who
afterwards straggled into Peshawar, none else had sur-
Tived the horrors of a retreat in mid-winter, without due
supplies of any sort, through mountain-passes crowned
with hostile Afghans, and blocked with a mob of helpless
fugitives, who fell at every step under the faDing snow
from cold, hunger, or the deadly rain of Afghan bullets.
Thousands perished in the Khiird Kabul Pass alone. In
the Jagdalak Pass the slaughter was renewed, until every
trace of a disciplined army had disappeared. Some sixty
officers and men reached Gandamak ; but these too, with
the one exception of Dr. Brydon, perished on the road
thence to Jalalabad.
The tidings of this great disaster, the heaviest which
had yet befallen our arms in Asia, struck dismay for the
moment into every English heart in India itself. They
became the talk of every Indian bazaar, and inspu'ed our
ill-wishers throughout the country with vague hopes of yet
worse things to come. No outward stii-, however, gave
form to the feeling of the hour, nor do any of the native
princes seem to have renewed their old intrigues against
our rule. Happily for England, her honour was still up-
held by such men as Nott and Kawlinson at Kandahiir,
Sale and Broadfoot at Jalalabad, Clerk, Mackeson, and
Henry Lawrence in the Panjab. While Lord Auckland
and his Commander-in-Chief, Sir Jasper NichoUs, were
feebly paltering with the new danger, Nott and Sale
bravely held their gi-ound, deaf to the orders they had re-
ceived from Kabul and undismayed by the annihilation of
Elphinstone's force. Instead of waiting behind his de-
fences, Nott marched out and beat the enemy whenever
Y
322 HISTORY OF INDIA.
he got a chance, and even sent out one of his two Sepcv
brigades under Colonel Wymer to show the backward
General England the way into Kandahar.
Meanwhile Mr. George Clerk, as Governor-General's
agent, was straining every nerve for the succour of General
Sale. But the failure of Colonel Wild's attempts to carry
his Sepoys through the Khaibar threw Sale back upon his
own resources for some months longer ; while the mis-
conduct of our Sikh allies, the apathy of Sir Jasper
NichoUs, and the mutinous spirit which had spread from
the Sikhs to our own Sepoys at Peshawar, reduced Clerk
and his able helpmates to the verge of despair. A fresh
brigade, however, was already on its way to Peshawar I
under Colonel George Pollock, a Company's officer of I
acknowledged worth ; and other troops were getting ready I
for the same service at Firozpiir.
By this time Lord Auckland had resigned his post into
the hands of Lord Ellenborough, who reached Calcutta in
February, 1842. One of his last acts had been to sever
the old connection between the Government and the
national faiths. The revenues derived from Hindu temples
and religious rites were made over to the care of Hindu ,
priests ; the tax on pilgrims was abolished on grounds!
stUl open to question ; and the Company's troops were]
forbidden thenceforth to parade in honour of native festi-
vals. It is however by his Afghan policy that Lord Auck-
land is best remembered, and the results of that policy
were equally hurtful to his own fame, to his country's
honom-, and to the finances of our Indian empire. The
sad catastrophe in the Afghan snows could never have oc-
curred but for the ill-judged invasion of Afghanistan ; and
more than twenty millions were added to the debt of
India, before the disgrace of Elphinstone's retreat from
Kabul had been wiped out by the victories of Nott and
Pollock.
323
CHAPTER VI.
LORD ELLENBOKOUGH AND LORD HARDINGE 1842-1848.
A FEW weeks before Lord Ellenborough's landing General
Pollock had reached Peshawar. The outlook at that
moment was dark enough. Half his Sepoys were in hos-
pital, and the rest were deeply tainted with the mutinous
spirit of AvitabUe's Sikhs. They had no mind to face the
dreadful Khaibar, and some of their English officers
shared the feeling. The Sikhs were insolent and un-
manageable by their own commanders. Sher Singh, the
successor of Karak at Labor, had Httle power to enforce
compUance with Clerk's demands for the promised succours
and supplies. The Ivhaibaris, deaf to all Mackeson's
offers, prepared to defend the pass with all their might.
But Pollock's patience, well seconded by the energy of
Clerk and Lawrence, overcame all bindi-ances. In two
months the quiet, cool-headed artiUery-officer, who had
served in two sieges and three great wars, had so far
recruited the health and discipline of his troops, that the
timely arrival of English gimners and dragoons enabled
him on the 5th AprU to attempt the passage of the far-
famed Khaibar.
The attempt was brilliantly successful. The tremendous
cliffs on either side of the pass were soon swept clear of
the astonished foe, while Pollock with the centre column
held his way unchecked through the long gloomy gorges
between. By the 15th April the relieving army had ex-
changed greetings with the brave defenders of Jalalabad,
fresh from their last victorious sally against the troops of
x2
824
HISTOEY OF INDIA.
Akbar Khan, who had been closely besieging them for
more than a month past. With the utter rout of the
Afghans on the 7th April Sale's heroic garrison found rest
from their prolonged toUs, and perfect freedom from any
immediato danger. Not till three months after their
rescue did Pollock's pleadings for an advance on Kabul,
in behalf of English honour and English captives, wring
FORT JAMRrn, r-F>U.VWAR.
from Lord Ellenborough a half-hearted assent to the only
course which policy and patriotism alike dictated. Pol-
lock and Nott were at last permitted to withdraw at their
own risk from Afghanistan " by way of Kabul and Ghazni."
Those brave men, however, were quite prepared to take
all the risk on their own shoulders. On the 7th August
Nott led out his Sepoys from Kandahar. On the 80th he
took Ghazni, which had been tamely surrendered to the
LORD ELLENBOROUGH AND LORD nARDINGE. 325
Afghans some months before. The fortifications were
blown up, and the famous sandal-wood gates of Somnath
carried off from the spot where they had rested for eight
centui'ies. One last ■victory on the 14th September cleared
the road to Kabul, where tliree days afterwards Nott found
Pollock already encamped.
The latter general had set out from Jalalabad on the
20th August, dri\-ing the Afghans before him at Jagdalak
on the 23rd, and routing Akbar Khan's best troops on the
13th September at Tazin. Two days' marching brought
him to Kabul, and on the morning of the 16th the British
ensign once more floated proudly from the top of the
Bi'ila Hissar. One thing only was wanting to crown the
triumph of our arms — the recovery of the captives whom
Akbar had sent off towards Bamian. The honour of
rescuing them fell to Sir Eichmond Shakespear, and by
the 22nd September they were all safely lodged in Pollock's
camp.*
After the capture and destruction of Istalif and Cha-
rikar by General McCaskill, one last deed of vengeance for
past humiliations remained to do. The great Bazaar of
Kabul, where Macnaghten's mangled body had been ex-
posed to every insult, was blown up and utterly destroyed,
while a maddened soldiery, bursting through all control,
revelled for three days in the plunder of the city itself.
At last, on the 12th October, the whole army set out from
Kabul on their march homeward thi-ough the Ivliaibar, car-
rying with them the family of Shah Shuja, who had been
slain by his own subjects some months before. His eldest
brother, the Mind old Zaman Shah, who had dreamed of
conquering India in the days of Lord Wellesley, and been
driven from his throne in 1801 by a brother of Dost Mo-
hammad, was now glad to close his days on English
ground, a pensioner on the bounty of his ancient foes.
* General ElpMnstone had died in captivity. Among the released
prisoners were nine ladies and several children.
826 HISTORY OF INDIA.
A splendid gathering of troops at Firozpiir, in honour
of Pollock's safe return, gratified Lord Ellenborough's
taste for pageantry, and proclaimed to all India the com-
plete success which had rewarded the efforts of his com-
manders to wipe out the stain of Elphinstone's miscarriage.
After a narrow escape fiom adorning Lord Ellenborough's
triumph. Dost Mohammad was set free to govern the people
who had once more flung aside the dynasty of Shah
Shuja. A bombastic manifesto from Simla announced the
removal of the Somnath Gates to India, and '• the insult
of eight hundred years " was " avenged " by the possession
of a trophy about which nobody seemed to care, and of
whose genuineness there are serious doubts.'^' For their
splendid services in the late campaign — services performed
in spite of Lord Ellenborough's virtual opposition — PoUock
and Nott received each a knighthood, with a handsome
pension from the Court of Du-ectors. It was not till
nearly thirty years later that Sir George PoUock was made
a bai-onet, in reward for achievements which not only
stamped him as the greatest soldier of his day. but had
probably saved our Indian empire from perils of the gravest
kind.
Pax Asia restituta — "Peace restored to Asia" — was
the high-flown legend of a medal struck by Lord Ellen-
borough's order in memory of the late events. A few
weeks afterwards he had entered on a war with Sindh.
The Amirs of that country were rewarded for their co-
operation in the late campaigns by a demand for further
concessions, which they were loath to yield. The demand
was enforced by a movement of British troops under Sir
Charles Napier towards Haidarabad on the Indus. On
the 12th February, 1843, the treaty was signed ; but
the Baluchi followers of the Amirs were stiiTed to uncon-
* The gates which hia lordship proposed to band over to the '' princes
and chiefs of Sirhind, of Rajwara, of Malwa, and Gujarat," were after-
waids stowed away in a lumber-room of the Fort at Agra.
mm }
LORD ELLENBOEOUGH AND LORD HARDIXGE. 327
trollable rage on learning that half the country had been
ceded to the English Government. A furious attack on
the Residency at Haidarabad ended in the retreat of
Major Outram and his weak escort to an anned steamer
on the Indus.
On the 17th February Sir Charles Napier won the hard-
fought battle of Miiini against seven times his own
numbers. The capture of Haidai-abad was ere long fol-
lowed by another great victory at Dabha, which placed aU
Sindh at the conqueror's mercy. The despoiled Amirs
were hunted into exile or borne into captivity ; their con-
quered kingdom was annexed to the Bombay Presidency ;
and Sir C. Napier became the successful governor of a
province won by the sword, on grounds which Outram did
not stand alone in condemning.
It was not long before the Maratha kingdom of Gwahor
was once more to feel the weight of our arms. On the
death of Jankaji Sindia in February, his uncle, the Nana
Sahib, became regent, with the Governor-General's express
sanction. But Jankaji's widow intrigued with the troops
against him, and ere long a favoured rival was set up in
his place. This defiance of the Paramount Power was
made more serious by the growing turbulence of the
Gwalior aiTuy, and by the danger which seemed to threaten
India from the restless ambition of the great military
power beyond the Satlaj. Even before the mm-der of our
ally Sher Singh in September, the army of the Khalsa had
begun to rule the Sikh state, and the men whom Kanjit
Singh had hardly kept in hand might be tempted at any
time through fear or wantonness to pick a quarrel with
their Enghsh neighbours.
An Enghsh army, under the veteran Sir Hugh Gough,
began its warning march towards the Chambal in De-
cember, 1843, accompanied by Lord Ellenborough himself.
All chance of a peaceful settlement vanished on the 28th,
when the Marathas opened fu-e on an Enghsh outpost near
328 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Miihariijpur. Next morning Sir Hugh Gough carried
with the bayonet a strong position, armed with powerful
guns and defended with a stubbornness which cost him
dear. On the same day General Grey's division fought
and routed another large body of Marathas at Paniiir,
twelve miles fi'om Gwalior.
These two victories ended the brief campaign. The
Queen-mother and her young son the very next day
placed themselves at the mercy of Lord EUenborough,
who had shared in the perils of the day before. The
former was pensioned off; a council of regency was set
up under the virtual control of the Resident, Colonel
Sleeman ; the Gwalior army was cut down to 9,000 men ;
and a contingent of 10,000 men, largely recruited from
the old Rajput soldiery who had fought so well at Maha-
rajpiir, was placed under the command of picked EngUsh
officers.
While the Governor- General was thus engaged on the
frontier, his deputy at Calcutta, Mr. Wilberforce Bird,
carried out Lord Auckland's humane designs by an Act
which abolished slavery throughout India. A few months
later Lord EUenborough learned the tidings of his own
recal by a vote of the India House, in spite of the resist-
ance offered to such an exercise of the Company's privilege
by the Board of Control. In the minds of the Directors
the alarm awakened by his warlike tendencies went hand
in hand with deep resentment of his insolent behaviour
towards themselves and their favourites in the Civil Ser-
vice of India. In July, 1844, his brother-in-law. Sir
Henry Hardiuge, landed in Calcutta, and took up the
vacant post. The very last months of Lord Ellenborough's
brief rule had been clouded by a mutiny among the Bengal
Sepoys. Several of the regiments which had been ordered
to garrison Sindh stood upon their right to receive extra
pay for foreign service, and refused for a time to march
on. Their claims were at length conceded ; but one
LORD ELLENBOROUGH AN'D LORD HARDINGE. 329
regiment, tlie 34th, had gone so far towards open mutinj-,
that nothing short of its disbandment could be allowed to
atone for its offence. Even in Madras there were sj'rap-
toms of a like spirit during the same year.
A rising in the Southern Maratha highlands about
Kolapiir broke the lull of Indian politics in October,
1844. The task of suppressing it brought out in a new
field the skill and energy of Colonel Outram, worthily
seconded by the corn-age and endm-ance of his troops. A
brilhant campaign against the Baluchi raiders on the
Sindh frontier in 1845 bore fresh witness to Napier's
soldiership, and secured the peace of his new pro\'ince.
Meanwhile the new Governor- General kept his eve upon
the darkening storm-cloud in the Panjab. With the death
of Sher Singh the anarchy beyond the Satlaj gi-ew worse
and worse. A powerful army, restless, greedy for more
pay or plunder, filled at one moment with wild mistrust of
Anglo-Indian statesmanship, at another with ignorant
scorn of English forbearance, had to be wooed and
humoured by successive leaders, each of whom in his
turn paid with a bloody death the price of his own folly
or of his soldiers' fickleness. Even the brave, well-mean-
ing Hira Singh, who ruled for a time in the name of the
boy-king, Dhulip Singh, failed to escape the common
doom. Twice in two years had a large Sikh army set
out from Labor, as if for the invasion of Hindustan. Sir
Henry Hardinge quietly massed his troops in SLrhind,
ready for the struggle whenever it might come. At last,
in December, 1845, a gi-eat Sikh army for the thii'd time
began its march towards the Satlaj.
That the Sikhs were in earnest on this occasion no one
in Hardinge's camp appears to have beheved. It is even
doubtful whether they themselves had quite made up their
minds until the last moment to dare the issue of a struggle
which Kanjit Singh would never have provoked.* Be
* See Sir Henry Lawrence's " Essays, Military and Political."
330 HISTORY OF INDIA.
that as it may, Sir Henry Hardinge, an old soldier who
had earned his laurels in Spain under Wellington, was
not to be caught asleep. Before the enemy had crossed
the Satlaj our troops were hurrying by double marches
towards the frontier,* commanded by the war-lovinc Sir
Hugh Gough himself. On the 12th December the Sikh
army, about 60,000 strong in regular troops alone, with
150 guns, began to cross the river, and by the 16th were
encamped in threatening neighbourhood to Firozpur. Sir
John Littler, with half of his 10,000 men, marched out
to meet them ; but the Sikhs, declining the challenge,
turned aside to entrench themselves at Firozshahr, while
20,000 of them pushed on towards Miidki in hopes of
taking Gough's troops by sui-prise.
- On the 18th Gough's wearied soldiers were resting near
that place, when the gallant Broadfoot gave timelv warninc
of the Sikh advance. The battle of that aftenioon was
waged on both sides with equal courage, but nothing could
withstand the repeated onsets of the Enghsh horse, fol-
lowed up by the steady advance in line of our brave
infantry. By nightfall the Siklis had fled, leaving seven-
teen guns in the hands of the victors, whose own loss had
not been slight.
Reinforced by half of Littler's men and some fresh
troops from Ambala, Gough on the 21st led his army, now
17,000 strong, against the Sikh array of more than
■10,000 good troops entrenched at Firozshahr, behind
breastworks guarded by a hundred guns. Sir Henry
Hardinge, who had placed himself under Gough as second
in command, led the centre of the English line. Late in
the afternoon the battle began. On the Enghsh richt
and centre all went fairly well in spite of the havoc
wrought by the steady fire from guns far heavier than our
own. But on the left, where Littler commanded, his
* They marched 150 miles in six days.
LORD ELLENBOROUGH AND LORD HAEDINGE. 331
infantry, after a bokl dash forward, fell back iu utter
disorder, \\1ien night fell upon the scene of carnage, a
few thousand English soldiers and Sepoys lay on the
ground they had already won within the entrenchment,
worn out, hungn,-, thirsty, pinched \\'ith cold, and harassed
by the frequent fire from still uncaptured guns. One of
these tormentors had to be silenced by a chai-ge of in-
fantry under Hardinge himself. There was even talk of a
retreat on Firozpiir, but neither Gough nor Hardinge
would hear of a move so fatal to English honour.
Once more with returning daylight our rallied regiments
advanced to complete then- work. Lai Singh's battalions
wavered, broke, and fled ; battery after battery fell into
our hands ; and the foe were already out of sight, when
Tej Singh, coming up with a fresh army of 20,000 men
and 60 guns, spread new anxiety in om- shattered ranks.
But the Sikh leader had no mind to dispute the issue of
those two days' fighting ; and he too withdrew from the
field, after firing a few shots, which the English guns for
want of ammunition could not return.
The victory thus hardly earned had been dearly bought.
Out of 17,000 brought into the field, 2,415 had been
killed or wounded, including ten of Sir Henry's aides-de-
camp. For the next few weeks, while the English were
awaiting fresh succoiu's and the heavy guns from Dehli,
the Sikhs lay idle on thcu- own side of the Satlaj. At length,
towards the end of JanuaiT, 1846, Kanjor Singh recrossed
the river and threatened Ludiana. On his march thither
with a few thousand troops, Sii- Hany Smith lost his bag-
gage near the fort of Baduwal. But a few days later, the
brilliant victory of Aliwal, in which the Sikhs lost 67 guns,
more than atoned for the previous mishap ; and the Sikhs,
from behind their strong entrenchments at Sobraon on the
Satlaj, awaited the nest move in the EngUsh game. At
last, on the 10th Februaiy, Gough's warriors, 15,000
strong, dashed foi-ward, after a fierce but fruitless can-
332 HISTORY OF INDIA.
nonaile, to storm a position held l)y 35,000 of the best
Sikh troops, and armed with G7 heavy guns. Under a
withering fire they struggled onwards, recoiling only to
renew the attack, until the entrenchments were fairly en-
tered, and the Sikhs, still fighting manfully, were driven
back before the British bayonet.
Ere long the retreat became an utter rout. The English
guns played havoc among the masses of flying Sikhs, who
crowded towards the bridge of boats, or threw themselves
into the swollen Satlaj. A river red with blood and
choked with coi'pses seemed more than a figure of speech
on that day of slaughter, when some 10,000 followers of
Go^ind perished in the field or in their fhght. The loss
of the victors in killed and wounded amounted to 2,383 ;
but the whole of the enemy's guns and stores on the left
bank of the river had fallen into their hands, and no army
now stood between them and Labor.
Ten days afterwards the victorious Enghsh were en-
camped in view of the Sikli capital. On the 23rd Fe-
bruary, the ministers of Dhulip Singh signed the treaty
which transferred Jalandhar and the Sikh States on the
left bank of the Satlaj to English rule, and bound the
Sikh government to pay a heavy fine for the costs of the
war. It was afterwards agreed that the bulk of the fine
should be paid oft' by the sale of Kashmir to Giilab Singh,
the Rajput lord of Jammu, who had borne no part against
us in the late struggle. The remnants of the old Khsilsa
army were disbanded, and Labor was held for a time by
English troops. Colonel Henry Lawrence, who had been
summoned from Nipid on the death of the gallant Major
Broadfoot, was appointed to act for the Viceroy at the
Labor court.
For these great successes, achieved in two months, the
Governor-General and Sir Hugh Gough were raised to the
peerage. It was not long before Lawrence had to place a
cui-b on the intrigues of the Labor government. At the
LOUD ELLENBOEOUGH AND LORD HARDIXGE. 333
head of 10,000 of our late foes, he forced the unruly
Shaikh Imam-ud-din to surrender Kashmir to its new
master. Lai Singh, the Queen-mother's favourite, was
removed from his office of vizier and banished to Bauaras.
Before the year's end the treaty of Bhairowiil made Law-
rence %-irtual master of the Panjab, aided by a council of
Sikh Sardars or chiefs, and a picked stafi' of English officers,
who looked for guidance to the Resident alone.
Successful in war. Lord Hardinge turned his attention
to works of peace. The crusade against Satti, infanticide,
and slavery, was canied with good results into the domi-
nions of native princes. The great Ganges canal, or-
dained by Lord Auckland after the dreadful famine of
1837, and suspended by Lord Ellenborough, was pushed
forward in the spring of 1846 with renewed vigom% under
the able management of Major Cautley, seconded by the
zeal of Mr. Thomason, Lieutenant-Governor of the North-
western Provinces. The question of railways in India
found in Lord Hardinge an eager advocate, and the sur-
veys for two great lines went steadily forward. Private
enterprise opened out new fields of trade in the factories
of Western India and the tea-gardens of Assam. To the
cause of native education Lord Hardinge proved from the
tirst an enUghtened friend. New schools of various kinds
were opened in many places ; and the new-born native im-
pulse towards wider fields of learning and mental growth
was encouraged by the preference given in the public ser-
vice to those natives who had passed thi'ough a govern-
ment school or college.
A few local disorders, such as the Mohammadan plot at
Patna, an anti-Christian riot at Tinivalli, a civil war in
Bhopal, armed strife in Audh and the Dakhan, and a
rising among the Khands of Giimsar, marked the closing
years of Lord Hardinge's government. The worst of
these, however, happened in native states, where disorder
was still the nde ; and the Khand rising was put down
834 HISTORY OF INDIA.
with little bloodshed, if not without some trouble to the
troops employed. At length, in March 1848, Lord Hard-
inge turned his face homewards amid the general regret
of all classes, after making over the seals of office to his
great successor, James Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie.
BOOK VI.
CONSOLIDATION OF ENGLISH RULE.
CHAPTER I.
LORD DAIHODSIE. 1848-1856.
When Peel's able President of the Board of Trade arrived
in India at the beginning of 1848, the country was in
almost perfect peace. But for a commercial crisis in Cal-
cutta and a flickering little war in the Khand jungles, not
a cloud appeared on the political horizon. In a few
months, however, aU was changed. While Colonel Law-
rence was seeking health and rest in England, a new
storm of war was gathering in the Panjab. Mulraj, the
Governor of Miiltan, had agreed to resign his post ; and
Mr. Vans Agnew, with Lieutenant Anderson and a small
body of Sikh troops, was directed by the Labor Govern-
ment to instal Khan Singh in his place. But the two
Englishmen were treacherously attacked in Mulraj's pre-
sence, and afterwards foully murdered by his men.
Sir Frederick Currie, who was then acting for Lawrence
at Labor, instead of moving troops with all speed to the
scene of outrage, as Lawrence would have done, awaited
the issue of an appeal for help to the Commander-in-
Chief. But Lord Gough was against moving a large force
at the hottest season of the year ; and Lord DaJhonsie,
336 HISTORY OF lyDlA.
being new to office, concurred in his reasons for an ill-
timed dela}-. It remained for one of Lawrence's best
subalterns, the young Lieutenant Edwardes, who was en-
gaged in settling the province of Bannii beyond the Indus,
to set his countrymen an example of prompt action. With
the help of his own le\-ies, of some troops under Colonel
Cortlandt, and of others presently furnished by the loyal
Nawab of Bhawalpiir, Edwardes thrice defeated the rebel
Mulraj, and finally shut him up in Multan.
By this time matters in the Panjab looked so serious,
that General 'WTiish was ordered to undertake the siege of
Mult;in with a regular force of eight thousand English and
Sepoys. On the 4th September he pitched his camp
before that city. Edwardes's little army had already been
reinforced by a few thousand Sikhs under the Rajah Sher
Singh. Hardly had the siege begun, when the latter made
common cause with the rebels and marched away to kindle
fresh revolts elsewhere. His desertion caused the suspen-
sion of the siege, pending the arrival of fresh succours from
Bombay and Firozpiir.
It was soon evident that a new fight for empire was on
our hands. The Sikh leaders everywhere joined the
revolt, and a holy war was proclaimed against the infidel
" Faringi." Nothing remained but to take up the chal-
lenge. " The Sikh nation," said Lord Dalhousie at the
farewell banquet given him at Barrackpore, " has called
for war, and on my word, sirs, they shall have it with a
vengeance." While he hastened up the country, a power-
ful army was mustering on the Satlaj under Lord Gough.
Its march did not begin too soon. Sher Singh was already
menacing Labor with a large army of the veterans who
had rallied to the Khiilsa war-cry ; and Dost Mohammad
was bargaining for Peshawar as the price of his co-opera-
tion with our Sikh foes.
On the 27th December, Whish was enabled to renew
the siege of Miiltan. On the 22nd January, 1849, his
LORD DALHOOSIE. 337
troops stormed the city, but Mulraj still held the citadel
with the obstinacy of despair. At last, on the 22nd
January, when the fortress inside had become a mere
wreck, and two great breaches invited an easy entrance to
our troops, he and the remnant of his brave garrison sur-
rendered at discretion.
His followers were allowed to go their own way, while
Mulraj himself was carried off a close prisoner, to await
the trial which ended in dooming him to a felon's death.
His life, howerer, was ultimately spared, but death alone
cut short his term of lifelong imprisonment.
Meanwhile Lord Gough had encountered Sher Singh at
Ramnagar on the Chenab, and again in the jungles of
Chilianwala on the Jhilam. The repulse of the Sikhs at
the former place was marred by the headlong valour of
Havelock's dragoons, many of whom, with their brave
leader and General Cureton, perished in vain eflbrts to re-
trieve their blunder. On the 2nd December a part of
Lord Gough's army under Sir Joseph Thackwell crossed
the Chenab higher up the stream, and engaged the Sikhs at
Sadiilapur, forcing them to retreat towards the Jhilam.
Thither Lord Gough slowly foOowed them, until, on the
afternoon of the 13th January, he suddenly felt the fire of
their outposts from amidst the jungle around Chilianwala.
It was late in the day, but the fiery old soldier would not
wait for the morrow. His troops, about 11,000 strong,
advanced to attack some 80,000 Sikh veterans with sixty
guns strongly posted on the plain behind a thick belt of
intervening jungle.
Before night-fall the Sikhs had been driven back to the
Jhilam with a heavy loss in men and guns. But the
victors also had sufiered heavily. One brigade of Camp-
bell's division had been hurled back in utter disorder,*
• It is a well-attested fact that General Campbell made his division
advance through the jungle with unloaded muskete. One brigade
tmder Colonel Hoggan, however, advanced firing, and swept the enemy
before them. The other obeyed the order, and suffered accordingly.
z
ggg HISTORY OF INDIA.
and the cavalry on the right wing had fled in sudden and
mysterious panic before a small body of Sikh horse. The
rest of the troops, however, fought with their wonted
daring, and another hour of daylight would probably have
renewed the slaughter of Sobraon. But night came on ;
our troops fell back a little for want of water ; and the
Sikhs, returning later to the field, cut up many of the
wounded and carried off most of the captured guns.
Twelve only were secured by the victors, whose own loss
in killed and wounded amounted to 89 officers and 2,357
men, besides four guns and three sets of colours.
For several weeks the two armies lay abnost withm
si<»ht of each other, while Lord Gough waited for rem-
forcements from the camp of General Whish. While these
were yet on their way, the Sikh army under Sher Smgh
and his father Chattar Singh marched round the English
General's right flank towards Labor. But the blow thus
aimed fell short of its mark. British troops held the fords
of the Chenab, and the Sikhs turned off to take up a
strong position on the plain in firont of Gujarat. There
with 50,000 men and sixty guns, the Sikh leaders awaited
the final onset of Gough's army, now swollen to 20,000
men and a hundred guns.
On the 21st February the fight began with such a fire
from the English hea^j guns as had never before been
witnessed on an Indian battle-field. For more than two
hours the English batteries, light and heavy, played upon
the foe with ever-increasing havoc. At last the Sikh gun-
ners who had manfully returned shot for shot, slackened
theii- fire and began t'o tall back. The British infantry
were then let loose upon the wavering Sikhs. One of Gil-
bert's brigades under Godby swept forward agamst the
strong village of Kalra, still held by the pick of the Sikh
infantry. Under a scathing fire the 2nd Europeans
stormed the place, while a smaUer village was attacked
and carried by the 10th foot. A spirited charge of
LORD DALHOUSIE. 339
Malcolm's Sindh horse ere long drove the best of the
Sikh cavalry from the field. Sir Joseph Thackwell with
the whole of his fine cavalry and light horse guns took up
the pursuit of the beaten foe, driving them before him
with heavy slaughter, until night found him fifteen miles
from the field, which our troops had won with a loss of
less than 800 men. Fifty-three guns, many standards,
and the whole of the enemy's camp betokened the com-
pleteness of a victory which laid the Sikh power for the
last time in the dust.
It only remained to gather up the after-fruits of that
day's work. Early next morning Sir Walter Gilbert, with
12,000 men and forty guns, set off in pursuit of Sher
Singh's broken army. The chase was kept up with so
much vigour, that by the middle of March the last of the
Sikh leaders had surrendered, and the last of their wearied
soldiers had laid down their arms to the pursuing column
at Riiwal Pindi. Fortj'-one more guns were added to the
spoils of Miiltan and Gujarat, and Sher Singh was carried
ofl" a prisoner to Labor. His Afghan allies, who had
shared the disasters of Gujarat, stiU kept ahead of their
unwearied pursuers ; but only a few hours before Gilbert
reached Peshawar, they fled back, as it was said, " Uke
dogs " into the mountain passes whence they had ridden
out " like hons " a few months before.
On the 29th March the last blow was struck by order of
Lord Dalhousie at the independence of the Sikh kingdom.
In the presence of the boy-sovereign, Dhulip Singh, was
read the proclamation which made him a pensioner of the
East India Company, and annexed his country to British
India. The conquered province passed under the rule of
a Board of Three, at the head of which Sir Henry Law-
rence, who had come out again from England with a
knighthood, deservedly took his place. Conspicuous
among his colleagues was his brother John Lawrence, who,
with the aid of a few irregular troops and Sikh levies, had
z 2
340 HISTORY OF INDIA.
kept Jalandhar in comparative quiet during the war. For
the next few years the two brothers, -with the help of Mr.
Mansel, and afterwards of Mr. Montgomery, ruled the
Panjab with light but firm hands, restoring order, sup-
pressing crime, revising the revenue system, enforcing a
simple code of laws, freeing the trade of the country from
its former shackles, making roads, canals, and other useful
■works, and wiBning alike the respect and the affections of
a conquered but brave and high-spirited people. Sir
Henry's mild influence fell like balm on the hearts of the
humbled Sikh Sardars, and did much to counteract the
harsher tendencies of a rule which recognised no distinc-
tion between class and class in respect of their common
rights, duties, and burdens. To the Marquis of Dalhousie
— for such he had now become — belongs much of the
credit due to all concerned in the pacification of the Pan-
jab. His eyes were everywhere during his frequent
travels through the country ; no details of government
were too small to escape his notice ; and the measures
taken for guarding the Panjab frontier were the direct
oflspring of his own brain.
Meanwhile the new Commander-in-Chief, Sir Charles
Napier, was dealing in his own stem fashion with a
mutiny among the Bengal regiments told off to garrison
the new province. Some of them had refused to take
their ordinary pay, and the 66th Sepoys went so far
towards open mutiny, that Napier took upon himself to
disband the regiment and put a Gurkha battalion in its
place. This and other measures, decreed by him on his
own authority, brought him into collision with the
Governor-General, who had no mind to let another usurp
his lawful power. The quarrel ended in Napier's resigna-
tion ; but the mutinous spirit which had been rife in the
Bengal army ever since the Afghan wai's kept smouldering
beneath the surface, ready to burst forth again on the
smallest provocation. The government saw no pressing
LORD DALHOUSIE. 341
danger, aud Dehli, the great centre of Mussulman intrigue
and the chief arsenal for Upper India, was still left under
the sole protection of Sepoy bayonets.
In 1852 another war was forced on Lord Dalhonsie's
hands by the continued insolence of the Bunnese. The
rude treatment of English Eesidents at Ava had been fol-
lowed by a series of outrages on English merchants and
shipping at Rangoon. Dalhousie's demands for redress
were made in vain, and those who bore them subjected to
open insult. At length Commodore Lambert was driven
to blockade Kangoon and silence the batteries which had
opened fire on his frigate. DaUiousie at once prepared
for war. On the 2nd April, 1852, a powerful British fleet,
including many war-steamers, and carrying a strong force
under General Godwin, anchored off Rangoon. Martaban,
on the Salwin river, had already been attacked and taken
by Bengal Sepoys. Before the middle of April the Eng-
lish, in spite of a brave resistance, were masters of Ran-
goon itself. Bassein was taken in May, and Pegu in June.
The road to Ava lay open ; but Godwin declined to ex-
pose his small force to the risks and discomforts of the
rainy season.
His advance to Prome in October, and the reUef of Hill's
small gaiT-ison in Pegu, were followed early in the next
year by the capture of Donabyii and the rout of the Bur-
man leader, Mia- Tim, by Sir John Cheape. Thenceforth
the war was virtually over. With the whole province of
Pegu occupied by our troops, it was deemed needless to
push on after an enemy who declined to fight. To nego-
tiate with the King; of Burmah proved to be a waste of
time and words. The Peguers on their part seemed per-
fectly willing to exchange the Barman for the British yoke.
Dalhousie, therefore, boldly resolved to fill up the British
seaboard between Arakan and Tenasserim by the annexa-
tion of Pegu, with or without the consent of the Burman
sovereign. His intention indeed had alreadv been made
812 HISTORY OF INDIA.
public in December, 1852 ; but it was not until the follow-
ing June, when the obstinate King of Burmah had virtually
yielded to all our demands, that peace was finally pro-
claimed and Pegu freed from all fear of Burman aggression.
While the conquest of the Panjab brought all India
within the Sulaiman HiUs and the Himalayas under our
virtual rule, the annexation of Pegu made the Company
masters of all the coast country on the eastern side of the
Bay of Bengal, from Chittagong to the borders of Siam.
Under the wise rule of Colonel PhajTe, Pegu itself became
a model province, easily held by a few troops, its people
steadily advancing in wealth and numbers, and its chief
port on the Irawadi becoming ere long the populous seat
of a thriving trade.
Meanwhile the work of annexation had been going on
within the bounds of our Indian empire. In 1848 the
Eajah of Satara died without an heir. Was the boy whom,
according to Hindu custom, he had adopted two hours
before his own death to be recognised as his successor to
kingly title and power, as well as to all his personal estate ?
In spite of the arguments of Sir George Clerk, then
Governor of Bombay, Lord DaUiousie held that the
government was not bound to accept the consequences of
an act whose validity it had never acknowledged. The
State of Satara, as created by an Enghsh viceroy, had
lapsed to the Company tlirough default of heirs ; and
the government was " bound to take that which was
legally and justly' its due, and to extend to that ten-itory
the benefit of our sovereignty, present and prospective."
Armed with the approval of the India House, Dalhousie
struck Satara out of the list of native states, bestowing
liberal pensions on the Rajah's widows and his adopted
son.
Five years later died the Bhosla Rajah of Berar or
Nagpur and the Rajah of Jhansi in Bundalkhand. As the
former had neither left nor named a successor, and the
LOED DALHOUSIE.
843
people under the fostering care of Mr. Jenkins had learned
to value aright the benefits of our rule, Nagjjiir also was
speedUy annexed. The ruler of Jhansi, on the other
hand, had left an adopted heir, in whose name his widow
claimed to govern. But the absorption of Satara furnished
the Governor-General ^vith ample gi-ounds for rejecting
her claims, and placing Jhansi also directly under British
rule. The Rani, an ambitious woman, brooded in secret
over the imagined wrong, until the moment for taking a
tenible revenge seemed to have come.
Karauh, in Eajputiina, was another state whose sove-
reign had left no direct heir. But the question of its
disposal was referred to the Court of Directors, who
decided in favoui' of acknowledging the adopted son of a
protected ally. Another question which came before Lord
Dalhousie concerned the claim of Dhundii Pant, the
infamous Nana Sahib of after years, to the handsome pen-
sion which Lord Hastings had bestowed on his adoptive
father, the erewhile Peshwa Baji Rao. It was decreed on
just, if not politic grounds, that the ex-Peshwa's princely
income had lapsed to the Company on his death in 1853.
In vain did the angry Nana plead his cause at the India
House. It was decided that he had no claim to a pension
granted only to Baji Rao and his family; but by way of
balm for his wounded feelings, he was allowed to hold the
lordship of Bithiir, on the Ganges, not far from Cawn-
pore.
About this time also the Nizam's province of Berar was
virtually transfeiTed to British rule in payment of the
heavy debts he had incurred to the Indian Government.
To this concession the Nizam unwillingly agreed as the
only means of retaining the services of his useful but ill-
paid contingent. The weak-minded successor of Chin
Kilich was thus rescued from the worst results of a mis-
rule prolonged for many yeai-s past ; while the ceded pro-
vince, over which he still retained a portion of his sove-
344 HISTORY OF INDIA.
reign rights, throve apace under a rule which brooks no
internal disorders, and has always laboured for the well-
being of the people at large.
Three years later, in 1856, the dethroned Rajah of
Maisor renewed his prayer for restoration to the govern-
ment of which he had been justly deprived in 1831.
Through aU that time his forfeit kingdom had been ably
governed by General Mark Cubbon, in spite of some
resistance from the Rajah's friends. Lord Dalhousie saw
no good reason to grant a prayer which Lord Hardinge
had found good reason to reject ; and it was not till ten
years later that an English minister was rash enough to
reverse the wiser policy of successive governors-general,
and hand over a flourishing province to the doubtful
blessings of native rule.
Meantime the misrule in Audh had been growing
yearly worse and worse, ever since Lord William Bentinck
had solemnly warned the king of the Company's firm
resolve to interfere, if he made no effort to mend his ways
and govern his people in closer harmony with the counsels
of the EngUsh Resident. In 1847 the warning was
repeated by Lord Hardinge. But the long-sufl'ering of
the Indian Government proved of no avail. The king
amassed money at the expense of his subjects, only to
waste it on women, fiddlers, and bufi'oons. Justice was
openly bought and sold. The great land-holders, hke
many a baron of the Middle Ages in Europe, openly
defied the royal power from their well-armed forts, and
throve on the plunder of their weaker countrymen. The
king's troops made up for their scanty and irregular pay
by li\'ing freely on the people they were supposed to
protect. The Resident, Colonel Sleeman himself, for
all his sympathy with native princes, avowed that the
misgovemment had reached an unbearable pitch, and
advised his masters to place the country under British
rule. His successor, the high-souled General Outram,
LORD DALHOUSIE. 845
pronounced in favour of a like course. All the best-
informed statesmen in India argued to the same efl'ect.
It only remained to settle the conditions on which
English rule sho'ild be established in Audh. On this
point Lord Dalhousie was nearly at one with Colonel
Sleeman. Both agreed in wishing to leave the king his
nominal sovereignty, but the Governor-General was for
employing the surplus revenues that might accrue to him
under the new form of government, not for the king's
benefit, but for that of India at large. Some members
of his Council argued strongly for the entire absorption
of Audh in British India, and their views found most
favour with the Government at home. In compliance
with positive orders from the India House, Lord Dalhousie
prepared to annex the country, and dethrone the dj-nasty
which Lord Hastings had set up. On the 7th February,
1856, Sir James Outram announced to the king that he
had ceased to reign. The tidings were received with a
burst of tears, and a flat refusal to sign the treatj' which
transformed him into a discrowned pensioner of the
Indian Government. It was useless, however, to struggle
against his fate. He withdrew to Calcutta on a handsome
pension, and the whole kingdom submitted without a blow
to its future m'asters.
A few months earlier, in July, 1855, the peace of
Bengal had been broken by a sudden rising of abori-
ginal Santals in the hill ranges of Rajmahal. Maddened
by the extortions of Bengali money-lenders, who worked
the law-courts for their own ends, these simple savages
marched forth in a vast body to lay their grievances before
the Calcutta Council. Provisions failing them, they began
to plunder the villages on their way, to attack police-posts,
to murder native officials and stray Englishmen, and even
to threaten the safety of important stations. The few
troops that first encountered them were driven back or
slain by their poisoned arrows. It was not till the cold
34(5
HISTOEY OF INDIA.
season of 1855 that their power for mischief was checked
by the advance of fresh troops, who hemmed them in on
all sides, and hunted them down with little mercj-. By
the year's end the rising had been quelled with the death
of its ringleaders ; and the wrongs for which they had
sought so wild a redress were shortly remedied by the
appointment of a Commissioner, who ruled the Santal
UUVEUNJlKNr tlOL'SL. CAI.CLITA.
districts on a simpler system than that which had long
prevailed throughout Bengal.
We have yet to mention those peaceful services which
have shed so bright a lustre on Lord DaUiousie's Indian
career. No Governor-General has ever been so fortunate
in his opportunities, or so successful in turning them to
account. His genius for governing embraced a rare
mastery of details, a clear conception of the work that
LORD DALHOUSIE. 347
lay before him, a thorough knowledge of bis tools, and
a strength of will which triumphed over the drawbacks of
a sickly frame yet further enfeebled by prolonged toil in
a very trying chmate. In every department of the State
his strong hand wrought some change for the better.
Both in the army and the civil service individual over-
looking was substituted for that of Boards ; even the
Panjiib Board under Sir Henry Lawrence giving place
in 1853 to the rule of a Chief Commissioner, Sir Henry's
brother John. In 1852 was established a new Department
of Public Works, which furnished India with a staff of
civil engineers fit to carry on the gi'eat projects which a
time of peace and a full treasury encouraged Dalhousie
to set on foot or bring to an early completion. The
greatest of these was the Ganges Canal, perhaps the
noblest work of its Idnd in the world, with its five hundred
miles of navigable main stream and many hundreds of
irrigating branches. Thanks to Lord Dalhousie's unwearied
efforts, the waters of the Upper Ganges were let into this
mighty work on the 8th April, 1854, amid crowds of
wondering natives ; and its chief engineer. Colonel Cautley,
received the Kiband of the Bath for his success in carrying
out the scheme which he himself had planned fifteen years
before. Of only less importance was the network of
canals which Colonel Napier had meanwhile begun to
weave for the parched but not unfruitful plains of the
Panjub.
Dalhousie's name, indeed, is inseparably linked with
the whole history of India's progress during the last
twenty-five years. To him India owes the removal or the
lowering of almost every remaining barrier to trade,
industry, social well-being, and mental growth. From
the planting of trees in dry places to the building of
railways, from reforms in jail discipKne to the diffusion
of aids to knowledge among the people, nothing seemed
too small or too gi'eat for his far-reaching powers. He
848 HISTORY OF INDIA.
was the first to endow India with a cheap uniform rate of
postage, whereby a letter from Peshawar to Cape Comorin,
or from Arakiin to Karachi, could be carried for half an
anna, or three farthings. Under his zealous encourage-
ment Dr. O'Shaughnessy was enabled in the course of a few
years to cover India with 4,000 miles of telegraph wires.
Dalhousie succeeded in cheapening the rates of postage
from England to India. Under his orders the first yearly
reports were sent in from the heads of every province
on all things connected with its administration. To him
also India owes the general planning and first instalments
of those 4,000 miles of railway which now join Bombay
to Madras, Calcutta, Allahabad, and Labor. To the
scheme of cheap popular instruction which Mr. Thomason
first set on foot in the North-Western Provinces he lent
his eager countenance ; and, fortified by Sir Charles
Wood's Education Despatch of 1854, he began at once to
organise that improved system of State-aided schools and
colleges under which nearly a million scholars are now
taught, at a yearly cost of as many pounds to the State.
In 1853 the question of renewing the East India
Company's Charter was again the subject of parhamentary
debate, which resulted as before in fresh curtaOments of
the Company's power. The days of its rule were, in
fact, already numbered. Of the eighteen members of the
Court of Directors, six were henceforth to be chosen by
the Crown. India might still be governed in the name of
the Company, but all power became practically vested in
the Board of Control. A heavy blow was dealt at the
Company's patronage by an Act which opened the Civil
Service of India to public competition. A heavy burden,
on the other hand, was taken ofi' the shoulders of
the Governor-General by the arrangement which gave a
Lieutenant-Governor to the populous province of Bengal
Proper. New members with enlarged powers were also
added to the Supreme Council in Calcutta.
LORD DALHOnSIE. 349
With the annexation of Audi Dalhousie's term of office,
twice prolonged by the Court of Directors, came to a
glorious, but for him mneh-needed end. Worn out with
eight yeai's of hard work, the great marquis gave the last
touches to that farewell minute — the master work of a pen
as clear, direct, and polished as Caesar's or Welhngton's —
which contains at once the history and the best defence
of his memorable career. In another set of minutes he
enlarged on the policy of reducing the overgrown Sepoy
army and strengthening the European force in India.
At length, on the Gth March, 1856, he embarked for
England, followed by impressive tokens of the esteem
and admiration which all classes had learned to feel for
the greatest of Indian rulers since Warren Hastings.
But his part in life, as he himself declared, was already
played out ; and the death which awaited him in 1860
was even then written on the face of one who had landed
in India at the early age of thirty-six.
350
CHAPTER II.
LORD CANNING 1856-1862.
Lord Canning, son of the great English Minister whom
Pitt had first brought into notice, found India for the
moment in perfect peace. To follow in the footsteps of
his great predecessor, and carry forward his unfinished
schemes for the good of the people, was all the task which
seemed then cut out for the erewhile Postmaster-General
of Great Britain. The Penal Code, in which Macaulay
had sought to furnish a simple uniform system of law for
all creeds and classes in India, was entrusted to the re-
vising hands of another great jurist, Mr. Barnes Peacock.
Kecruits for the Bengal army were henceforth required to
take the same oath of general service as their brethren in
Bombay and Madras ; a measure intended, like the intro-
duction of Sikh recruits into Bengal regiments under Lord
DaUiousie, to counteract the domineering spirit of the
high-caste Sepoys in Bengal. Dalhousie's scheme for
removing the Moghal princes from Dehli on the death of
the reigning king, Bahadur Shah, was fm-thered by the
recognition of his lawful heir, on terms which expelled the
dynasty of Timiir from the palace where they had hitherto
retained a certain semblance of independent power.
By this time, however. Lord Canning's attention was
turned towards Persia, whose sovereign, in breach of for-
mer treaties, had sent an army to capture Herat from the
Afghans. In obedience to orders from home, the Gover-
nor-General prepared for war. Early in December, 1856,
a British force under the brave General Outram, aided by
LORD CANNING. 351
the fire of Leeke's ships, gained swift possession of Bnshir,
on the Persian Gulf. Ere long a Persian army began its
march towards the conquered place ; but Outram hastened
forward to stay its approach, and its retreat from Barasjiin
on the 5th Februai-y was followed by its utter rout on
the 8th at Khiishab. The strong fort of Mohamrah, on
a branch of the Euphrates, was easily taken on the 26th
Mai'ch ; and the flight of the Persians a few days later
from Ahwaz may be said to have finished the campaign.
Its close was doubtless hastened by the treaty of alhance
which Sir John Lawrence, Sir Henry's fit successor in
the government of the Panjab, had formed with our old
foe. Dost Mohammad,, in January, 1857. By the Treaty
of Paris, which had already been signed on the 4th March,
the Shah of Persia pledged himself to withdraw his
troops from Herat and renounce all claim to sovereignty
over any part of Afghanistan.
It was a happy thing for India that the war ended
when it did, in good time to enable Lord Canning to
meet the heaviest blow which has ever yet been struck
at English supremacy in Hindustan. By whom that blow
was planned is still matter for conjectiu-e ; but there is
ample evidence that a spii-it of unrest was abroad through-
out the country in the beginning of 1857, that rumours
of evil bode to India's rulers were everywhere rife, and
that many causes combined to bring about the disaster to
which those rumours seemed to point. It is always
difficult for foreign rulers to guess at what is passing
through the minds of their subjects ; and the gulf which
parts our countrjonen in India from the millions among
whom they come and go is one which few EngUshmen
can quite bridge over. Some of them, indeed, were
warned of mischief brewing, but few even of these paid
any heed to the hints or counsels of their native friends,
and those who smelt danger beneath the surface found
small encouragement to speak out.
352 HISTORY OF INDIA.
In the Imperial Palace at Dehli, in the Nana's castle
at Bithiir, in the pleasant quarters occupied near Calcutta
by the deposed King of Audh, in every place where
people cherished a grudge against their Enghsh rulers
for some real or fancied wrong, plots were quietly
hatching against the Power which, according to native
soothsayers, had already entered on the last year of its
reign. Emissaries from native courts were roaming the
couutry, inflaming the minds of the discontented, and
spreading everywhere dark rumours, none the less potent
for their general absurdity, of a great English plot for
abolishing caste and converting the whole of India, by
fraud or force, to its masters' creed. The air grew thick
with falsehoods, none of which was too wild for the
popular belief. The fears alike of the Hindu and the
Mohammadan were fed with omens and idle tales. An
outbreak of cholera, a bad harvest, a jail riot, a heavy
flood, an^'thing served as a handle for the most outrageous
slanders against a Government guilty only of a well-meant
desire to keep the peace, to advance the general welfare,
and to imbue its subjects with a taste for Western
civilisation.
The time seemed propitious to oui' foes in India. Our
EngHsh garrisons had been weakened to fiutdsh troops
for the campaign against Russia in the Crimea ; nor was
their place filled up by other troops from England, in
spite of the warnings uttered by Dalhousie before and
after the annexation of Audh. Fresh regiments were
shipped off from India for the Persian war. It was
given out by the Nana's emissaries that our army in the
Crimea had perished almost to a man, and that England
needed every soldier she could muster for her own
defence, to say nothing of fresh embarrassments caused
by another Chinese war. It was certain that only one
Enghsh regiment lay between Calcutta and Agi-a, and
that all India was held at that moment by about thirty
LOKD CANNING. 353
thousand English troops, more than half of whom were
quartered in or near the Panjab.
The Sepoys also in Bengal were growing restless.
Their discipline had been weakened by doubtful measures
of mihtai-y refonn, by the moral effects of Afghan and
Sikh campaigns, by the growth of new social habits among
their English officers ; their caste pride was sorely hurt
by the admission of Sikhs and other low-caste men into
their ranks, and their prescriptive rights were scattered
to the winds by the new rule which compelled all recruits
to enlist for general service, whether by land or sea.
While the Nana's agents tampered with the Hindu
Sepoys, the minds of the Mussulman soldiery were
inflamed against their masters by the preacliing of
Wahabi fanatics and the intrigues of the Dehli princes,
wroth at their coming expulsion from the seat of their
forefathers.
About the beginning of 1857 a new cause of alarm
began to spread among the Sepoys. A rumour, born of
chance gossip in the Dam-dam Bazaar, flew about the
country, declaring that the cartridges of the new Enfield
rifles had been carefully greased with the fat of pigs and
cows, in order to bring about the defilement alike of
Mohammadans and Hindus. Before the end of January
the Sepoys in Barrackpore were holding nightly meetings
on the subject ; several bungalows* were set on fire, and
a marked change was seen in the men's bearing towards
their ofiicers. The same tlung occurred at Raniganj, the
furthermost station on the new railway. On the 26th
February, the 19th Sepoys at Barhampur refused to
receive the suspected cartridges, and were hardly restrained
from firing on their own ofiicers. The mutiny was queUed,
but no mercy was shown to the mutineers, who were
marched down to Barrackpore and there disbanded by
General Hearsey, in the presence of comrades no less
* One-etoried hoHses with steep roofs of thatch or tiles.
2a
854 HISTOKY OF INDIA.
guilty in spirit than themselves. Two days earlier, on
the 29th March, a Sepoy of the 34th N.I. at Barrackpore
seized his musket and called on some of his comrades to
rally round him in defence of their religion. He attacked
and wounded two officers before help came, which led him
to turn his weapon against himself. The wound, however,
was not fatal ; he lived to undergo his trial and be hanged
a few weeks afterwards.
All through March and April the tokens of disaffection
grew more and more rife. Night after night fresh fires,
whose origin remained a mystery, broke out in the great
northern station of Ambala ; and the men who handled
the new cartridges were marked out for the jeers and
persecutions of their numerous comrades.* In Meerut
the Sepoys readily came to believe that the weUs had
been defiled, that animal fat had been boiled up with the
ghee, or liquid butter, sold in the bazaars, and that ground
bones had been mixed up with the flour they ate. Mean-
while all over India a mysterious signal, in the shape of
a chajMithi, or flat cake of flour, was passed ou from
village to village, like the fiery cross in Scotch history,
as if to prepare men's minds for some great scheme on
foot.
In April the disafiection spread to Audh, where Sir
Henry Lawrence had taken up the post of Chief Com-
missioner in the room of Mr. Coverley Jackson. It was
too late even for the successful ruler of the Panjab to
repair the mischief done by his predecessor, or to avert
the great storm of mutiny and rebellion whose warning
murmurs were already falling on men's ears. On the
2nd May a native regiment quartered near Lueknow broke
* It seems that beef fat had really been used in greaslnjj the cart-
ridges ; but the use of these was countermanded hy the end of
January ; the Sepoys were then allowed to pre.ise their ovn cartridcres,
and to tear off the end^ instead of biting them off with their teeth.
See Incidents of fhe Sepoy War, by Sir Hope Grant and Captain
KnoUys. Blackwood it Sons : 18;3.
LORD CA-NNrNG. 355
ont into open mutiny. Sir Henry's prompt advance
scattered the mutineers, some forty-five of whom were
seized, tried, and sentenced to imprisonment for various
terms. For some weeks longer all seemed quiet in
Lucknow ; but the frequent firing of bungalows and
Sepoys' huts warned Sir Henry against setting too much
faith in passing appearances and the soothing magic even
of his own high name.
At last, on the 10th May, the storm burst over Meerut,
where 1,800 English soldiers lay in the midst of 2,900
native troops. On the 24th April, 85 troopers of the
3rd Bengal Cavalry had openly rejected the very sort of
cartridges which they had been using for some time past.
On the 9th of the following month the mutineers were
marched oflF in irons from the parade-ground, to undergo
their several sentences of imprisonment with hard labour ;
a heavy punishment for Mohammadans of good family, for
soldiers of any spirit a terrible disgrace. Next evening,
while our countrj-men were at church, the native regiments
rose in arms with one consent, shot down some of their
oflScers, set fire to their Hues, emptied the jails, and
spread sudden panic throughout the European quarters.
General Hewitt and most of those around him were
utterly paralysed by an outbreak which prompt action on
their part would soon have quelled. The rabble of the
bazaars joined with the released convicts in the work of
murder, pillage, and general havoc ; and the moon rose
on blazing bungalows, on men and women dead, dying,
or fleeing for their lives from ruffians thirsting for yet
more blood. When the European troops were at length
brought upon the scene of horror, night was already
closing round them, and the mutinous regiments held
their way unchecked and unpursued to Dehh.
The early morning of the fatal 11th May saw some
troopers of the 3rd Cavalry riding into that city, eager to
continue the work they had begun at Meemt. In a few
2a2
356 HISTORY OF INDIA.
hours all Dehli was up against the bewildered English,
who had heard nothing of the mischief wrought the day
before, and little dreamed that not a hand from Meerut
would now be stretched forth to help them. English
men, women, and children were foully butchered within
the Palace itself, under the eyes, if not with the express
permission, of the old king, who owed to English forbear-
ance all the dignities and comforts he still enjoyed.
Many an officer was shot down by his own men. Before
sunset all Dehli was in the hands of the mutineers ; the
gallant Willoughby and his eight heroic followers having
blown up the arsenal which they could no longer defend
against hopeless odds.* Of those who had escaped death
in the city, some were struggling on their perilous way
to Karnal, while others had joined the little band of
officers who, under Brigadier Graves, still clung to the
Flagstaff Tower on the heights overlooking the northern
side of Dehli, in vain hope of the help that never came
from Hewitt's garrison.
At last, when the ruffians from the city were renewing
the work of plunder in the cantonments outside, the
English watchers on the Ridge had to seek their only
safety in flight. The more fortunate soon made their way
to Meerut or Karnal ; but some of their number, including
women, ran the gauntlet of every possible hardship and
danger, in a hostile country under the fierce May sun, be-
fore they found rest and shelter among their friends.
Happily for our countrymen elsewhere, the dreadful
deeds doing at Meerut and Dehli had been telegraphed to
Ambala and Agi-a before the rebels had time to cut the
wires. From thence the tidings wore at once flashed on
to the Panjab and down the country to Calcutta. Sir
John Lawrence and his trusty subalterns proved equal to
every need. Two days after the Dehli massacre Colonel
* Willoughby died soon afterwards of hia wounds. Scully, who fired
the train, was never seen again.
i
LORD CANNING. 357
Corbett had quietly disarmed the Sepoys at Labor. Am-
ritsar, the Sikh Banilras, was speedily made safe. Timely
suecoui-s were thrown into the fort of Philor on the Satlaj.
At Peshawar, Brigadier Cotton and Colonel Edwardes
planned and carried out the disarming of four- native regi-
ments out of the five there posted. Of the insurgent
Sepoys at Mardan very few escaped the doom that dogged
them, whether from English or Afghan bands. Betrayed
by the hillmen of the border, or hunted down by Edwardes's
police, numbers of them were afterwards shot or blown
away from guns, while many more paid the forfeit of their
treason with hfe-long labour on the roads.
It was fortunate also for our cause that Lawrence and
his brave helpmates could reckon upon the loyalty of the
Sikhs on either side the Satlaj, in his efforts to meet a
danger, at thought of which even the boldest sometimes
held their breath. Not only Sikhs but the wild Moham-
madans of the border flocked into the new regiments raised
by the Labor Government. The ruler of Kashmir proved
himself a friend in need. From the Cis-Satlaj chiefs of
Patiiila, Jhind, Nabha, and Kapurthalla, came ready pro-
mises of aid in men, arms, and money ; promises which in
every case were loyally fulfilled. Many chiefs and gentle-
men of less mark in the Paujiib offered theii' best services
to the same efiect. Nor was our old foe, Dost Mohammad,
backward in assurances of goodwill. His hands thus
strengthened, the Chief Commissioner of the Panjab was
left free by the spread of revolt below Dehli to employ his
best energies in defence of Upper Lidia. While a movable
column of picked troops marched out from Jhilam to keep
the peace in his own province, regiment after regiment was
sent across the Satlaj to aid in punishing the mutineers,
and to sti'engthen the little force which General Anson
had led to the siege of Dehli.
All through May and June the revolt kept spreading,
from Fir6;!pur to Allahabad and Banai'as, from Ajmir to
858 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Rohilkhand, involving hundreds of Englishmen in the same
bloody doom. If some regiments spared their officers,
others shot them down or saw them massacred by less
scrupulous men. The Rani of Jhansi took a bloody re-
venge for the loss of her late husband's realm, by ordering
the massacre of nearly a hundred men, women, and chil-
dren, whose hves she had just sworn to spare. Before the
end of June not a station in Audh, except the capital, was
left in English hands ; and the garrison of Luckuow itself
was cut off from all communication with the outer world.
At Cawnpore Sir Hugh Wheeler and his luckless followers
were vainly fighting for their hves within weak intrench-
ments, under roofless and crumbling walls, against thou-
sands of merciless rebels commanded by the infamous
Nana Sahib. In many districts of the North- Western
Provinces the mutiny had widened into a general revolt ;
station after station was abandoned by those civil officers
who had time to escape ; and the last traces of English
law and order were swept away in a flood of rapine, blood-
shed, and general lawlessness. Outside the fort of Agra,
where English folk of all classes found passing refuge, the
power of Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor, was openly
defied. A reign of terror had begun for all well-wishers
to our rule.
Meanwhile the news from Meerut and Dehli had roused
Lord Canning into taking measures more or less worthy of
so great a need. Messages for aid were sent in all direc-
tions, to Bombay, Madras, Rangoon, and Ceylon ; special
powers were entrusted to the Lawrence brothers ; and
Lord Elgin was entreated to bring on to Calcutta the
troops destined for the Chinese war. By degrees the ex-
pected succours flowed in ; but much time was lost in
forwarding troops by driblets to Banaras and Cawnpore ;
and the delay in disarming the Sepoys at BaiTackpore and
enrolling volunteers in Calcutta led to a disgraceful panic
in the capital of British India. Early in June the brave
LOr.D CANXING.
350
Colonel Neill and his Madras fusileers reached Banaras iii
time to save that cit}- from the worst issues of a Sepoy
rising. On the 11th his presence at Allahabad gave fresh
heart to his countrymen in the fortress at the meeting of
the Jamna with the Ganges, and cleared the way for some
dashing onsets against the rebels in that neighbourhood.
He had got all ready for a final march on Cawnpore, when
MEMORIAL WELL. CAWSPORE.
General Havelock came up to relieve him of the chief
command, and to carry on the noble enterprise which he
had so well begun.
On the 7th July Havelock's little army set out from
Allahabad. At Fathipur, and again by the Pandii stream,
the troops of Niina Sahib strove to arrest his progress, but
in vain. On the night of the 16th his weary soldiers slept
on the parade-ground of Cawnpore, stiU unprepared for the
SCO HISTORY OF INDIA.
crowning tragedy, whose tokens on the morrow were to
meet their eyes. They knew that, after weeks of terrible
suffering, Wheeler and his wasted garrison had surrendered
to the treacherous Rajah of Bithiir, that volley after volley
had been suddenly fired into the boats prepared for their
promised voyage down the river, and that nearly all the
men who survived this cowardly attack were afterwards
taken out of the boats and shot. But not until the morrow
did they leam the whole truth ; how on the 15th July, the
day of his second defeat, the ruthless Nana had caused
the remnant of his captives, men, women, and children, to
be shot down, hacked, stabbed, or beaten to death, within
the bungalow where they had been shut up for a fortnight
past, and how next morning their mangled bodies had
been stripped and tumbled into the nearest well.* Of all
the 900 who had entered the intrenchments of Cawnpore,
four only, two officers and two privates, escaped almost
by a miracle to tell of the horrors they had seen and
suffered.t
* Among the victims of the Nona's butcheries were a number of
men, women, and children, who had escaped the slaughter of Fathigarh.
Two hundred in all are said to have perished in the bungalow. The
well at Cawnpore was afterwards bricked over, and a handsome memo-
rial built upon the site.
t These were Lieutenants Thompson and Delafosse, Privates Murphy
and Sullivan, who, after many hairbreadth escapes, found rest and
shelter at last with a friendly Audh chief, Raj.ih Dig Bijai Singh, until
they were able to join Havelock's force on the march to Lucknow.
361
CHAPTEK III.
LORD CANNING — [continued).
Wnn.E Havelock was making desperate efforts to relieve
Lucknow, and tlie flames of revolt were spreading into
Central India, a few thousand English and native troops
were engaged in the momentous work of besieging Dehli,
the one gi-eat stronghold of the mutineers. After the
death of General Anson, his little ai-my, reinforced by a
part of the Meerut garrison who had fought two battles on
their way to Dehh, drove the rebels before them at Badli
Serai on the 8th June, and encamped on the ridge over-
looking the tail red towers and long walls of the Moghal
capital. There, week after week, they lay hke a forlorn
hope in front of a city held by 80,000 Sepoys, themselves
just able by dint of heroic efforts to hold their ground
under every kind of danger and difficulty against repeated
onsets from the walls. All through the heats of June and
the rains of July the besiegers were in fact themselves be-
sieged. Sally after sally from the city wasted their num-
bers, stiU further thinned by disease and overwork. Sir
Hem-y Barnai-d, their brave commander, died of cholera in
the beginning of July, and his successor, General Keed,
was soon forced by iUness to make over the command to
Brigadier Wilson of the Bengal Ai'tiUery. But the road
from the Satlaj was kept open by the loyal princes of
Sirhind, and Sii- John Lawrence strained every nerve to
reinforce his countrymen from his own province. All
through July and August fresh troops came streaming or
dribbling into Wilson's camp. At last, by the middle of
862 HISTORY OF INDIA.
August the gallant Nicholson, fresh from the slaughter of
armed mutineers on the Ravi, near Gurdiispiir, led into
the camp before Dehli the last brigade of troops which
Lawrence could well spare from his already scant re-
sources.
Nicholson's rout of the rebels at Najafgarh on the 25th
finally cleared the way for the approach of the heavy guns
destined to batter down the walls of the rebel stronghold.
With their arrival on the 6th September the siege began
in earnest. It did not begin a moment too soon. Partial
risings had taken place in the Panjab itself. From
Saharanpur to Meerut the country was overrun by bands
of lawless villagers, or armed rebels following the standard
of some ambitious chief. The hard-pressed defenders of
Lucknow were beginning to despair of the help which
Havelock bad twice faOed to bring them. Large bodies
of rebels from Indor, Gwalior, and the neighbouring pro-
vinces were gathering for a march on Agra, and all Sindia's
efforts were growing powerless to keep the Gwalior Con-
tingent from joining in the game of havoc. The most loyal
of the native chiefs could hardly count on the faithfulness
of his followers to what seemed already a losing cause.
On the other hand, succours from Ceylon, the Cape,
and other quarters, were steaming up the HughU ; Peel's
naval brigade was hastening up the country ; Ontram,
in himself a host, was preparing for another march
from Cawnpore to Lucknow ; and the gallant Major Eyre,
an old Kabul prisoner, had just been scattering the rebels,
who had besieged his countrymen at Arrah, and striven to
bar his way among the jungles of Jagdispur. In Southem
and Western India, where the Sepoys with one or two ex-
ceptions continued faithful, all was quiet ; and the Nizam's
able minister, Salar Jang, maintained under very trying
circumstances the peace of a province filled with warlike
Arabs and fanatic Mohammadans of every class. Lastly,
inside DehU itself the rebels were disheartened by past
LORD CANNING.
863
defeats ; they had no leader in whom all could trust ;
their own countrymen grew weary of a yoke far heavier
than that from which they had been rescued ; and the old
strifes of race and creed broke out among men who had
little in common besides the knowledge of their common
guilt.
On the 11th September the new heavy batteries
showered forth their ii'on rain on the walls of Dehli. In
vain did the enemy strive their best to cope with the ris-
ing danger. In three days the battered walls were a heap
of ruins, and Wilson's heroes were only waiting for the
word to rush up the breaches made by their guns. On
the early morning of the 14th September, the great rebel
stronghold was stormed in three places by as many
columns, numbering in all not quite three thousand men.
The Kashmir Gate was blown in under a deadly fire,
while Nicholson's stormers mounted the main breach.
Two hours of hard fighting left our soldiers firmly lodged
within the walls ; but their success was dearly bought by
the fall of the gallant Nicholson, the leader of the storming
columns, the hope and pride of all India. He lingered for
nine days of a mortal wound ; but his last hours were
cheered by the knowledge that he had not died in vain.
After six days of hard fighting not one armed mutineer or
rebel remained alive within the captured city. On the
21st September the old kiug himself, in whose name the
city had been defended, was brought back a close prisoner
to his former home. His intriguing wife, Zinat Mahal,
and her son, Jamma Bakht, shai-ed his confinement.
Two more of his sons were slain next day by their captor,
the daring Captain Hodson, in the sight of a gi-eat crowd,
who seemed bent on rescuing them from his small escort.
Several other of the Dehli princes were afterwards taken,
tried, and hanged for the part they had borne in the
murder of English women and children on the 11th and
12th May. In March of the next year the wretched old
864 HISTORY OF INDIA.
king was doomed to death by a military court for waging
war against the English and ordering the murder of forty-
nine Christians within Dehli. But death was exchanged
for transportation, and the white-haired felon died a few
years afterwards in a remote corner of Pegu. A cry for
vengeance went forth against Zinat Mahal and her son ;
but Lord Canning, as firm as he was merciful, gave no
heed to the cry, and both queen and prince were allowed
to share the fortunes and cheer the last days of Moham-
mad Bahadur Shah.
In all the history of British India, so fruitful in great
deeds, no greater achievement was ever recorded than the
capture of a strong waUed city, seven miles round, by
about six thousand Englishmen and Sikhs, arrayed against
many times their number of desperate and well-armed
foes. After three months of watching and hard fighting
for the very ground on which they stood, their numbers
steadily thinned by wounds and sickness, Wilson's heroes
had planted their batteries within grapeshot of bastions
heavily armed and stoutly defended, had scaled in broad
daylight walls twenty-four feet high, and cleared out the
foe in sis days from a town where every large building was
itself a stronghold, and every street had to be won by the
bayonet or the pickaxe. And all this was done, as Lord
Canning proudly declared, " before a single soldier of the
many thousands who are hastening from England to up-
hold the supremacy of the British power, has set foot on
these shores," and even before any of the troops shipped
olf from the nearest colonies had made their way into Wil-
son's camp. For this memorable feat of arms, which cost
the victors a total loss of nearly four thousand from the
beginning of the siege, and of 1,674 from the 8th to the
21st September, no small share of England's gratitude was
due to Sir John Lawrence, whose bold counsels and un-
flagging efibrts had enabled the Forlorn Hope before Dehli
to hold the Ridge against all comers, until the moment
LOKD CANNING. 865
came for striking a death-blow at the rebel cause. With
the fall of the old imperial city the neck of the mutiny
was faii-ly broken, although many months were yet to
elapse before the monster breathed his last.
While some of Wilson's victorious troops were engaged
in scouring the country between Dehli and Agra, beating
up rebels and restoring order as they marched along, the
timely presence of Outram and Havelock at Lucknow had
rescued its war-worn garrison fi-om imminent destruction,
if not yet from absolute danger. Down to the end of June
Sir Henry Lawience had been employed in strengthening
the one post which still remained to the Enghsh in Audh.
But his failure on the 30th to check the advance of a
strong rebel army on Lucknow was closely followed by the
siege of the Enghsh Residency, wherein some fifteen
hundred Europeans and faithful Sepoys were hemmed in
for months by a well-armed, numerous, and determined
foe. His own death, on the 4th July, from a mortal
wound deprived the garrison of a leader whose many pub-
lic services were enhanced by virtues of the highest order,
and whose whole life may be summed up in the sentence
carved upon his tomb — " Here lies Henry Lawrence, who
tried to do his duty."
Happily his spii-it still lived in those who carried on the
defence for which his foresight had so well prepared.
Under every drawback of scanty numbers, sickness, hard
fare, incessant work, in spite of a weak position, of hopes
continually disappointed, of prolonged resistance to fearful
odds, the defenders of the Lucknow Residency upheld for
more than three months the honour of their flag and the
safety of their countrywomen against the banded forces of
a whole province in revolt. Men and women alike toUed,
watched, and suffered in their several ways under a cease-
less hail from guns and musketry, varied by the noise of
bursting mines and the yells of desperate onsets daringly
repelled. At last, in the beginning of September, Outram
366 HISTORY OF INDIA.
led fortli his succouring brigade from Allahabad. On the
19th, some three thousand soldiers, chiefly English,
marched out from Cawnpore under Outram, Havelock,
and Neill, to cut their way at all hazards into Lncknow.
On the 28rd, Havelock's army — for, thanks to Outram's
generous self-denial, he had retained the chief command —
stormed the Alambagh, or summer-palace of the queens
of Audh, under a furious fire from the enemy's guns.
Two days later they fought their way through streets of
loopholed houses, over barriers bristling with death, into
the half-ruined Residency itself. Nearly five hundred
slain or woimded was the price which Havelock paid for
his success, and the joy of victory was further damped by
the death of General NeOl within a few yards from the
British entrenchments. But the deliverers had not come
too soon, for the enemy had carried two mines under the
Residency, and a very few days more might have seen the
last of its defenders buried beneath its ruins. Even as
things were, the relieving force, once more commanded by
Sir James Outi-am, could do little more than carry on with
ampler means the defence of the position so hardly won,
until a new army could march up to aid them in with-
drawing the old garrison to Cawnpore.
In due time a fi-esh army, under Sir Colin Campbell
of Crimean fame, began its march towards Lucknow. By
the 12th November it was encamped at the Alambagh.
On the 14th Sir Colin resumed his advance, carrying one
strong post after another at the point of the bayonet, with
due help at need from his heavy guns. On the 16th
two thousand rebels were mercilessly slain by the ti'oops
who stormed the massive walls of the Sikandar Bagh.
The storming of the Shah Najaf Mosque, after Peel's
naval guns had vainly battered its strong masonry for
three hours, closed that day's work with brilliant promise
of triumphs yet to win. A few hours more of steady
fighting on the morrow, in which Outram's soldiers played
LORD CANNING.
367
their part, brought the besieged and their deliverers face
to face. A few days later the last of the Lucknow garrison
slept once more in peace and safety on the pleasant camp-
ing - ground of the Dil-Khushah. There, on the 25th
November, Sir Henry Havelock, worn out by toil and
sickness, breathed his last.
Leaving Outram strongly posted at the Alambagh, Sir
Colin Campbell marched off with the rest of his troops and
the rescued women and children for Cawnpore, where his
presence was already needed by those he had left behind.
The powerful Gwalior Contingent, having at last broken
loose from Sindia's control, had crossed the Jamna, and
with numbers swollen by the remnants of the N ana's
forces, marched en towards Cawnpore. After a vain at-
tempt to bar their progress, Windham's small force fell
back in some disorder into an entrenched position near
the Ganges. Here for two days the rebels, twenty
thousand strong, under their ablest leader, Tantia Topi,
pressed him so hard that the bridge of boats was in im-
minent danger of destruction, when Sir Colin's soldiers on
the 28th November reappeared betimes on the opposite
bank.
As soon as the sick and wounded, the women and
children of the Lucknow garrison had been sent off to-
wards Calcutta, Campbell proceeded to settle accounts with
the foe. Their utter rout on the 6th December, with the
loss of seventeen guns and all their stores, was crowned on
the 9th by their pursuit and final dispersion, vrith the
capture of all their remaining guns. During the same
month fresh victories were gained by English columns over
the rebels in Kohilkhand and the districts bordering the
Ganges. Rewah, in Bundalkhand, was cleared of rebels
by the gallant Lieutenant Osborne. The mutineers of
Nimach were routed by Brigadier Stuart near Mandisor.
Sagar, in Central India, was still held by faithful Sepoys,
and order was restored in the dominions of Holkar.
3C8 HISTORY OF INDIA.
Several of the leading rebels had bj this time been
caught and hanged, nor was any mercy shown to those
who had taken part in the murder or ill-treatment of
English people. It must even be confessed that in some
places the work of vengeance and repression had been
carried by civil and military officers to a length which
neither past provocation nor present danger could fairly
excuse. The cry for blood went forth from all quarters,
and many innocent perished, or were brought to ruin
along with the guilty. It is greatly to Lord Canning's
honour, that he boldly and firmly set his face against deeds
of wanton cruelty wrought in the name of justice by some
of those whom he bad necessarily entrusted with special
powers. From the fii-st he denounced the folly of dealing
with the people at large as mere rebels or abettors of re-
bellion ; and all the abuse showered upon him, both in
India and England, for his noble interference failed to turn
him from his purpose of tempering just retribution with
open-handed and politic mercy. Even in the darkest days
of 1857, it came out more and more clearly that the
Sepoy revolt had widened into a popular uprising, mainly
in districts new to our rule, or peopled largely by robbers
and Mohammadans, or held by unruly and disaffected
chiefs. Many a life was saved by the devotion of native
servants, as well as the active loyalty of native gentlemen.
In putting a stop betimes to the wholesale burning of sus-
pected villages, and the indiscriminate slaughter of sus-
pected criminals, Lord Canning rendered a signal service
not only to his own countrymen, but to the people of
India, who learned that their masters, however quick to
strike and stern to punish, could yet stay their hands
when the worst of the danger had blown over. English-
men and natives alike may thank him for preventing a for-
midable outbreak from flaring up into a war of race against
race.
\Miile Outram held bis post at the Alambagh against
LORD CANNING.
369
repeated onsets of manj- thousand rebels, and Hope Grant
was gaining fresh victories in RobUkhand, and Franks,
with a force partly composed of Giirkbas from Nipal, was
driving the enemy before liim into Lucknow, and other
GHRKHA. BRAHMAS, AND SCDBA.
officers were doing good work in Central and Western
India, Sir Colin Campbell was making ready, in his own
cautious fashion, for one last overwhelming advance on
the capital of Audb. At length, on the 2nd March, 1858,
2^8
370 HISTORY OF rSDU.
the van of his fine army, 25,000 strong in all, including
16,000 good English troops, with a powerful siege-train,
halted after a brief fight on the old camping-ground at the
Dil-Khushuh. On the 6th, Outram crossed the Gnmti
to play a leading part in the capture of Lucknow. By
the 16th the two commanders had won their way, not
without some hard fighting, into the heart of the rebel
city, while the Nipalese Jang Bahadur cleared out the
enemy from the southern side, and rescued two English
ladies who had survived the murder of their friends and
kindred some months before. A few days later not an
iinned rebel remained in or near Lucknow. The trifling
loss sustained by the victors was heightened by the death
of the daring Hodson ; and Captain WilUam Peel, whose
sailors had been foremost in every fight, died in April of
small-pox, which attacked him just as he was recovering
from his wounds.
The conquerors of Lucknow had still to deal with the
insurgents in Rohilkhand, whose numbers were swollen by
fugitives from all parts of Audh. Shahjahanpur was
taken on the 25th April, and Bareli on the 6th May. The
insurgent forces, beaten and broken up in every fight, still
roamed about the country, causing their pursuers much
trouble and some little loss from the heat and hardships
to which they were exposed. Rohilkhand, indeed, was
virtually reconquered before the end of June ; but the
rising in Bahar under Koer Singh involved weary marches
amid deep jungle, and the reconquest of Audh was only
completed on the last day of December, when the high-
mettled Begam of Audh, and the outlawed Nana Sahib
led the last of their hunted followers across the Kapti
into the forests of NipiU. Even of this poor remnant
many fell by the swords of their pm-suers ; whOe others,
including the Nana himself, are believed to have perished
of disease.
One leader. Prince Firoz Shah of Dehli, cut his way
LORO CANNING. 371
with a few followers through Audh across the Ganges, to
shaje the fortunes of Tantia Topi, who, driven out of
Gwalior by Sir Hugh Kose, still held a few troops together
in the wilds of Rajputana, doubling on his pursuers hke a
hunted hare. How he had been brought to this plight, it
remains to tell.
In the beginning of 1858 several columns of troops
from Bombay and Madras were marching on various points
of the country lying to the west and south of the Jamna,
from the Aravalli to the Yindhya Hills. A Madras column
under General Whitlock, after doing good service about
Jabalpur moved on to defeat the rebels in Bundalkhand.
Yet harder work awaited the Bombay column which Sir
Hugh Rose led first of aU to the relief of Sugar. On the
11th February the strong fort of Garakotah fell into Sir
Hugh's hands. The rout of the rebels at Madanpur
opened the way to fresh successes. On the 17th March
Stuart's brigade stormed the fortress of Chanderi.
Jhansi itself was invested. Twenty thousand men under
Tantia Topi crossed the Betwah in hopes of raising the
siege. On the 1st April they were routed with heavy
slaughter by 1,200 of Sir Hugh's force, and two days
afterwards the fierce Rani's rock-perched stronghold was
carried by stonn ; herself with a few followers escaping
into the jungle. Again the Rani and her Brahman ally
barred the way against their old assailants at Kiinch on the
7th May. Once more driven from the field of their own
choosing through Sir Hugh's masterly tactics, they fell
back with the loss of several guns on Kalpi, a strong
fortress overlooking the Jamna, not far from Cawnpore.
Sir Hugh, however, was not to be thwarted. On the
19th May, with the aid of a column from Cawnpore, he
began the attack. Twice the rebels sallied out against
his wearied soldiers, but in vain. By the 23rd May they
were off to Gwahor, and Sir Hugh became easy master of a
fortified arsenal containing fifty guns and large store of arms
2b2
872 HISTORY OF INDIA.
and ammunition. By this time, both he himself and his
heroic little anny were in sore need of rest after so many
months of constant marching and hard fighting under an
Indian sun,* across many hundred miles of very broken
ground. But the state of affairs at Gwalior forbade more
than a brief halt at that moment. On the 1st June the
brave young Sindia and his able minister Dinkar Rao were
fljdng for their lives to Agra from a capital already filled
with victorious rebels. Among these Tantia Topi at once
took the lead, in the name of the Nana, whom the Maratha
soldiery were bidden to accept as their future Peshwa.
Leaving Whitlock, the captor of Banda, to guard Kalpi,
Sir Hugh Kose lost no time in marching upon Gwalior,
where some 18,000 rebels, strongly posted around a rock-
fortress of vast strength, awaited his attack. Nothing,
however, could long withstand the determined efibrts of
disciplined veterans led by the most brilliant general
whom the mutiny had produced. Three days of bold
manoeuvring and successful fighting, in the course of
which the bloodstained Rani of Jhansi met a soldier's
death, placed all Gwalior outside the citadel in Sir Hugh's
hands. On the 20th June a handful of Sepoys scaled the
far-famed citadel itself, already abandoned by most of its
defenders ; and the young Maharajah rode back in triumph
through the streets of a city which British valour had won
back for its rightful lord. Next day Brigadier Robert
Napier, with a few hundred horsemen and six Ught guns,
caught up and scattered by a daring charge several
thousand of Tantia's beaten troops. Twenty-five guns
fell into the victors' hands, and the army of the Peshwa,
broken up into small flying bands, no longer existed as an
organised force.
Thus ended one of the most briUiant and masterly
campaigns of which history has any record. In less than
• Sir Hugh Rose himself had suffered from five sunstrokea in a
few days, and many of his soldiers died from the same cause.
LORD CANNING. 373
m months Sir Hugh Rose had led his few thousand war-
riors, English and native,* over more than a thousand
miles of rugged country, bristling with arms, and dotted
with strongholds, each capable of a stout defence. From
Indor to Sagar, to Jhansi, to Kalpi, at length to Gwalior,
they had marched without a check in the fierce heats of an
Indian summer, from victory to victory, across rivers, over
mountain passes, through intricate jungles, into the strong-
est forts, in the teeth of armies well led, fairly disciplined,
not badly equipped, and always far outnumbering their
own. Their bravery, devotion, and discipline, under
hardships, dangers, and temptations of every kind, had
well earned the hearty thanks of the skilful leader, who,
with their help, had placed himself by that one campaign
on a level with some of the first names in the annals of
modem warfare.
* Among these were some of the Haidarabiid Contingent, whose
loyalty had remained proof to all temptations.
BOOK YII.
INDIA UNDER THE CROWN.
CHAPTER I.
LOBD CANNING — {continued).
With the re-captm-e of Gwalior ended the last serioas
struggle against our arms. In the most unquiet districts
order was being gradually restored, and the rule of the
civil officer -was fast replacing that of the military chief.
A passing outbreak in the Southern Maratha country
had been suppressed betimes, before it came to a serious
head. DehU and the adjacent districts had been added
to the Government of the Panjab. Order reigned in the
North-Westem Provinces. In Audh the mild influence
of Sir James Outram and his successor, Mr. Montgomerj',
was fast winning over the rebellious Talukdars or land-
holders to accept the only terms on which Lord Canning
would reinstate them in their forfeit domains. By the
end of the year the last of the Audh insurgents were
driven, as we have seen, into the jungles at the foot
of the Nipalese Hills. Tantia Topi was stUl at large in
Central India, leading his pursuers a weary chase from
Rajputana to Beriii- ; but he, too, on the 7th April, 1859,
was caught at last in the jungle near Sipri, betrayed,
like another Wallace, by one of his most trusty followers.
876 HISTORY OF INDIA.
His trial and speedy death as a proven accomplice in the
Nana's crimes cut short the career of the one able leader on
the rebel side, and marked the close of a mutiny which had
drenched aU Upper India in blood. His comrade, Firoz
Shah, once more escaped ; but the last embers of revolt
had been trodden out. The great Sepoy Army of Bengal
had been swallowed up in the storm of its own raising.
The massacres of Cawnpore, Dehh, and Jhansi, had been
requited a hundred-fold. Of the surviving mutineers
thousands were doomed to hard labour in Indian jails,
or to lifelong imprisonment in the Andaman Islands. Of
the leading rebels who fell into our hands, some were
put to death ; others, less criminal, were banished or
imprisoned; while the remainder, with the bulk of their
followers, were allowed to go free.
In the last months of this momentous struggle, the
great Merchant Company, which had subdued all India
in less than a hundred years, underwent the doom which
had been hanging over it ever since the days of Pitt.
In spite of its long established power, of the glorious
memories which surrounded its name, of the eloquence
of its friends in Parliament, of the masterly pleadings
drawn up in its behalf by its faithful servant and wise
counsellor, Mr. John Stuart Mill, it failed to stem the tide
of popular feeliug which the events of 1857 had set rolling
more and more ominously against the magnates of
LeadenhaU Street. On the 2nd August, 1858, Queen
Victoria gave her assent to the Bill which, drawn up by
Lord Stanley and carried with few amendments tlirough
both Houses, decreed tlie transfer of all sovereign power
in India from the hands of the East India Company to
the Crown. Thenceforth the government of India was
vested in one of Her Majesty's Ministers, aided by a
Council of Fifteen, eight of whom were to be chosen at
first from the old Court of Directors. One of the last
acts of the discrowned Company was to vote Sir John
LORD CANNING. 877
Lawrence a handsome pension for services unsurpassed
in Indian history.
Thus in the very zenith of its outward gi-eatness passed
away from the historic scene a power whose services
alike to India and England might have seemed to deserve
a better fate. Englishmen might well be proud of a body
whose fame had filled the world, whose servants in a
hundred years had borne the Company's flag from one
end of India to the other, fighting always against heavy
odds, overthrowing many great dynasties, and proving in
peace as well as in war their right to rule the two hundred
and odd nulUons whom successive conquests, made for
the most part in self-defence, often in the teeth of orders
from England, had finally placed under their charge.
But the tree, in fact, was rotten before it was cut down.
The Company's sovereignty had long been undermined
by the powers entrusted to the Ministerial Board of
Control ; and its patronage, the last remaining source
of its political life, was fast shpping out of its hands,
when the great storm of 1857 revealed the weakness of
its friends to withstand the -n-idespread demand, raised
both at home and in India, for its entire suppression as
a ruling power.
On the 1st November all India was made aware of the
change which had befallen her late masters. On that day
Lord Canning, as the new-made Viceroy under the new
rule, issued from Allahabad the famous proclamation which
announced in the Queen's name the final transfer of
India's sovereignty from the Company to the Crown.
Throughout the chief cities of British India the new era
of national progress was solemnly proclaimed to eager
and rejoicing crowds, amidst the booming of guns, the
clang of martial music, and the cheers of paraded troops.
In the words of the royal manifesto there might be
nothing absolutely new beyond the fact that another hand
would hencefoi-th wield the sceptre hitherto entrusted to
378 HISTOEY OF INDIA.
a private Company. No new principles were really
involved in the assertion of her Majesty's resolve to
govern her new subjects with a tender and scrupulous
regard for the rights, dignities, usages, and well-being
of each and all. But a certain sense of reUef from past
troubles and secret feai's for the future inclined the people
at large to hail the new edict as a timely message of
peace, forgiveness, and goodwill, a sure promise of better
days to come, a formal charter of rights hitherto
begrudged or disregarded in fact, if not in words.
Honours and rewards were freely distributed among all
who had done good service during the late revolt. Lord
Canning became an earl ; Sir John LawTence, General
Wilson, and Sir James Outram baronets ; Sir Colin
Campbell won his peerage as Lord Clyde ; the son of
General Havelock succeeded to the baronetcy conferred
upon his dying father. Nicholson's widowed mother was
not forgotten, nor the fanuly of the daring NeUl. A host
of deserving officers, ci^-il and mUitary, were endowed
with the Order of the Bath. Every soldier who shared
in the siege of Dehli or the defence of Lucknow was
allowed to reckon another year's service towards his
pension. Estates were conferred on unofficial Englishmen
who, like Boyle, the defender of Arrah against thousands of
armed Sepoys, had done things worthy of remembrance.*
* The defence of Mr. Boyle's bungalow at Arrah by 18 Europeans
and 50 Sikh police, for seven days, against 3,000 armed mutineers,
aided by two guns, was one of the most brilliant episodes in the war
of 1857. It was conducted by Mr. Wake of the Bengal Civil Service,
but its success was mainly owing to the foresight of Mr. Boyle, a
railway engineer, who had fortified and provisioned his house weeks
before the revolt of the Sepoys at Dinapore. One attempt to relieve
the defenders from Dinapore was beaten back with heavy slaughter.
The supply of drink ran short, but the Sikhs found fresh water by
digging through the floor. At length, on the 3rd August, Major
Vincent Eyre, with "-'00 English soldiers and three guns, scattered the
besiegers, saved the little garrison from further danger, and cleared
the road from Bengal to Cawnpore,
LORD CANNING. 379
Every native known to have saved English lives or
property received a liberal reward. On those native
chiefs and princes who had stood loyally by the Govern-
ment all sorts of honours and gifts were ungrudgingly
bestowed. The Nizam himself got back a part of his
former territorj', and the balance of his debt to the State
was wholly remitted. His able minister, Salar Jang, in
addition to a knighthood of the new Star of India, was
handsomely rewarded in other ways. New rights, gi-ants
of land, and privileges, were secui-ed to Sindia and
Holkar, and in yet larger measure to the loyal Sikh
princes without whose aid Dehli could not have been
retaken, nor the adjacent provinces so speedily subdued.
The noble Rajah of Patiala was the first native who took
his seat in the Viceroy's Legislative Council, as remodelled
in 1861.
One concession by which the native princes set most
store was made by Lord Canning, in the Sanads or
patents which acknowledged, with due restrictions, the
right of every native feudatory to adopt an heir on the
failure of male issue in his own line. In some cases a
special provision was even made for the appointment of
a fit successor to a prince who left neither a natural nor
an adopted heir.* The spirit of the Royal Proclamation
was also visible in the process of doing away with the
old distinctions between Supreme and Sadr Courts. The
richt of sitting in the new High Court of each province
was for the first time thrown open to qualified native
judges of a lower grade. About the same time the Penal
Code first di-afted by Macaulay became the law of the
land for all creeds and classes. For the first time also
since the days of Comwallis native gentlemen were
empowered to serve as magistrates imder the Crown.
The last years of Lord Canning's rule were employed
iu repairing the mischief caused by the great mutiny. In
* "Eajaha of the Panjab," by Lepel Griffin. 1873.
880
niSTORY OF INDU.
1859 Mr. James WiJson was sent out from England to
devise new ways and means of replenishing an exhausted
treasury and reducing the public outlay. On his untimely
death in 18G0 his place was taken and his task success-
fully carried on by Mr. Laing. A few small local
outbreaks ruffled for a while the general peace, and
riots in the indigo districts of Bengal reduced some of
the planters for a time to serious straits. But all these
were trifles compared to the great famine which wasted
Upper India in 1861, causing the death of half a million
sufferers, and throwing back for several years the process
of recovery from the disasters of 1857. Foremost in the
efforts made by his countrymen to allay the consequent
misery was Colonel Baird Smith, who had borne no
trifling part in the siege and capture of Dehli. He died
on his way home, a victim to overwork in a baneful
climate.
On the 1st November, 1861, a splendid gathering of
English officers and native chiefs nxnged itself round
Lord Canning at Allahabad, to take part in the investiture
of some among them with the Order of the Star of India.
Chief among those who received the badges of the new
order from the hands of its first Grand Master, the
Viceroy himself, were the Rajahs of Gwalior and Patiala,
the Nawab of Rampiir, and the stout-hearted Begam of
Bhopal. A few months later Lord Canning, worn out
with cares and failing health, left Calcutta on his way
home. On the 17th .June, but a few weeks after his
landing in England, the heirless son of George Canning
had ceased to breathe.
He had already lived down the unpopularity which his
earlier measiu-es during the mutiny had provoked. What-
ever may have been his shortcomings at the outbreak of
a storm which found him still new to his work, surrounded
by advisers no abler nor clearer-sighted than himself, his
cool courage and firm adherence to his own views of duty
LORD CANNING.
381
and justice won him the respect even of those who found
most fault with his seeming blindness to the true purport
of passing events. Undismayed by the panic around
him, tmswayed by the impulses of popular clamour, he
worked away at his post with the calmness of conscious
rectitude, and kept his own head clear when all around
him were fast losing theirs. The bold stand which he
made against the popular cry for indiscriminate revenge
forms perhaps his highest claim to historic remembrance ;
and the name of Clemency Canning, once fastened on him
in keen reproach, has already become the fairest tribute
to his public worth.
Before Canning left India he could point to the great
progress already made in works of national usefulness.
By the beginning of 1862 thirteen hundred and sixty
miles of railway had been opened, half of that total in
the last two years. The great trunk road from Calcutta
had been completed to Peshawar, and many hundred
mUes of new roads had been opened throughout the
country. New canals were begun, continued, or completed
in several provinces, and other public works were pushed
steadily forward. The whole foreign trade of India had
increased from 32 millions in 1850 to 80 millions in 1861.
In Bengal the customs revenue had nearly trebled itself
in ten years. In the last four years the foreign trade
of Bombay had been increased by ten millions, to the
enrichment of the cotton growers and merchants in
Western and Southern India, who had begun to furnish
the mills of Lancashire with the cotton no longer obtain-
able from the ■war-burdened States of the American Union.
382
CHAPTER n.
LORD ELGIN AND SJR JOHN LAWRENCE 1862-1869.
Lord Canning's place in India was worthily filled by Lord
Elgin, whose successful diplomacy had just secured the
fruits of Sir Hope Grant's victorious march to Pekin.
The sometime Governor of Jamaica and Canada had
already won for himself a name for statesmanship of a
high order ; and the work awaiting him in India was far
from light. His first year of office was spent mainly in
Calcutta, in the quiet discharge of his new duties. Early
in 1863 he set out for the upper provinces, holding State
Darbdrs at Banaras, Agra, and Ambala, on his way up to
the hills. Towards the end of September he started again
from Simla on an exploring journey through the mountain
tracts of the Panjab. But the keen air of the wild Kiilu
passes proved too much for a frame already weakened by
the climate of Lower Bengal ; and on the 20th November
Lord Elgin died of heart disease at Dhai-msala in the
Kangra valley, in the midst of plans for a great military and
ofiicial gathering at Labor, and for checking the movements
of Wahiibi fanatics in tlie hills westward of the Indus.
Before bis death the Sitana campaign had already
begun with the advance of a British force imder General
NeviUe Chamberlain into the Ambela Pass. But the fierce
mountaineers fought hard in their native hiUs ; Chamber-
lain himself was badly wounded in November ; and his
troops held only the ground they had won after days of
incessant fighting. The Council at Calcutta were on the
point of ordering an ill-timed retreat, when Sir William
LORD ELGIN AND SIR JOHN LAWRENCE.
383
Denison, Governor of Madras, reached Calcutta as Lord
Elgin's acting successor, in time to overrule their feebler
counsels, and to support Sir Hugh Rose, the Commander-
in-Chief, in his efforts to strengthen the hands of Cham-
berlain's successor. The needful reinforcements soon
reached Garvock's camp. Ambela was stormed in De-
cember, and some of our late foes were glad enough to
show their victors the way to Malta, the chief seat of the
Sitana fanatics. With the utter destruction of that place
the war was over, and a wholesome fear of English prowess
kept the rude highlanders of those regions quiet for years
to come.
In January of the following year Sir W. Denison made
over the seals of government to Sir John Lawrence, the
first Bengal civilian who had ever been formally appointed
Governor- General of India since the days of Sir John
Shore. His return to the country where he had lived
and laboui-ed for so many years was hailed by his coun-
trymen as a just reward for his splendid services in 1857.
After spending the summer months at Simla, Sir John pro-
ceeded to meet his old friends and followers at Labor. In
simple but impressive terms he told the assembled Sikh
chiefs and gentlemen of the interest which the Queen of
England took in then- well-being, and passed in brief review
the efi'orts made by successive Enghsh rulers, from Sir
Henry Lawrence to Sir Robert Montgomery, to fm-ther that
well-being in every possible way.
Meanwhile a Uttle war was unwillingly opened with the
rulers of Bhotiin, a httle Himalayan state to the north of
Assam. For some years past the Bhotia highlanders had
made frequent inroads into British ground lying at the foot
of their hills, and claimed by their chiefs as part of
Bhotan. In 1863 the Hon. Mr. Ashley Eden had been
sent to treat with the Bhotan government on behalf of the
British subjects who had been kidnapped in these raids.
The utter failure of the mission was crowned by the in-
884 HISTORY OF INDIA.
suits heaped upon the envoy himself. In fear of his life
he had to sign a treaty surrendering the very lands in dis-
pute. After some vain attempts to patch up the quarrel
and gain redress for the outrage, Sir John Lawrence in
November 1864 declared war against Bhotan. A small
force entered the hills ; but mismanagement and a sickly
season delayed its progress ; some of our troops on one
occasion were disgracefully defeated, and not till some
months later was the enemy driven to sue for peace and
give sure pledges for its maintenance.
From that time no other warlike movement disturbed
the general quiet, until 1868, when a rising of lawless
Waghirs in Katiawar had to be quelled by an armed force.
Later in the year the Afghan tribes of the Black Moun-
tain, not far from Sitana, egged on by Wahabi refugees
from Patna, provoked speedy punishment for a daring
outrage on the Panjab frontier. Determined this time to
do nothing by halves, Sir John ordered a strong force
under General Wylde to march towards the Black Moun-
tain. In three weeks the invading columns had dealt the
hni-tribes such a blow, that chief after chief threw himself
and his clansmen on the invader's mercy, and the plotters
who had stirred them up to acts of violence were glad to
seek safer hiding-places elsewhere.
The history of Sir Robert Napier's well-planned and
thoroughly successful march to Magdala, the capital of
King Theodore, the headstrong ruler of Abyssinia, is not
to be told in these pages. It must not, however, be over-
looked that the troops whom Napier led to victory in
1868 were largely composed of Sikh regiments from
India, that the task of equipping them and feeding them
on the march devolved on otJicers of the Indian Govern-
ment, and that Napier himself, as an officer of Bengal
Engineers, had won his laurels in many an Indian field.
In the preparations for this campaign the Viceroy himself
played a useful and important part.
LORD ELGIN' AND SIR JOHN" LAWTtENCE. 385
A steady friend to peaceful progress, Sir John Lawrence
withstood all temptations to meddle in the aflfairs of his
Afghan neighbours. On the death of Dost Mohammad in
1863, a long straggle for the throne of Kabul ensued be-
tween his sons Mohammad Afzul Khiin and Sher Ali
Khan. The latter, whom his father had chosen for his
heir in preference to either of his eldest sons, applied to
the Indian Government for help against his insurgent bro-
ther. Beyond acknowledging Sher Ali as king for the
time being, Sir John Lawrence declined to interfere. A
just dread of embroiling Lidia in the domestic quarrels of
a turbulent neighbour decided him to watch the progress
of events across the frontier, and do nothing which could
give either party fair cause for complaint. The strife be-
tween the brothers raged with varying fortune, and victory
for a moment seemed to have finally turned the scales
against Sher Ali Khan. Afzul Khan in his turn was ac-
knowledged as the actual ruler of Kabul and Kandahar,
while Sher Ali retained possession of Herat. Once more,
however, fortune smiled on the latter. On the death of
Afzul Khan his next brother, Azim Khan, took his place at
Kabul, but not for long. The dethroned Sher Ali set out
from Herat, and, fighting his way back to Kabul, once
more became the acknowledged ruler of his father's realm.
Before the end of 1868 he was firmly seated on the throne
from which he had been driven three years before ; and
Sir John's successor was enabled to reap the fruits of a
poUcy which the event had folly justified.
The five years of Sir John's rule were years on the
whole of peace and marked prosperity. Li Western and
Central Lidia new soirrces of wealth had been opened up to
manv classes bv the great demand for Lidian cotton which
sprang out of the American war. For several years a
golden stream kept flowing fast into the country. Cotton
and railways brought untold plenty to miUions who had
hitherto earned their three or four rupees a month. The
2c
886 HISTORY OF INDIA.
poorest Rayat became suddenly rich. His old mud hnt
was replaced by a roomier dwelling of brick or stone. His
wife and daughters decked themselves in jewels of price.
Earthenware pots gave way to vessels of brass, copper,
and even silver. Every coolie — said one who hved among
them — " took to dressing like a Brahman." In many
cases old caste-distinctions were broken down by the
growing self-esteem that comes of growing wealth.
Bombay itself went mad over new schemes for making
money ; and the great commercial crash of 1865, the
natural result of reckless gambling in trade matters, dealt
sudden ruin among many households. But the ruin did
not spread far outside the Western capital. Most of the
new wealth remained in the country, enriching the mass of
traders, husbandmen, and artisans, turning the waste
lands into fruitful fields, giving new hfe to the cotton-
looms of Nagpur, and increasing the public revenue in divers
ways. Bombay itself, when the storm blew over, could still
export more than a milhon bales of cotton in one season, and
point to a foreign trade worth about forty millions a-year.
Under the active rule of Sir Richard Temple the Cen-
tral Provinces, which had been formed in 1861 out of old
Bengal districts and later annexations, rose in a few years
to a rare height of weU-ordered prospei"ity. By 1868
their foreign trade had swollen in value from two and
a-half to thirteen miUions, and the number of schools had
risen from four to 249. A line of railway linked Nagpur
with Bombay and the cotton-fields of Berar, while rich
streams of traific from nearly all parts of India found
their meeting-point at Jabalpiir. In British Bnrmah the
mild sway of Sir Arthur Phayre did much to further the
well-being of that young, loyal, and rising pro\ince. In
twelve years its population was doubled, pai'tly by immi-
grants from across the Burmau frontier ; its revenues had
increased to the same extent, and its foreign trade had
risen to the value of ten millions a-year.
IXJRD ELGIN AND SIR JOHN LA^TtENCE. 387
Andh, the granary of Upper India, had little cause to
repent the old days of Mohammadan misrule. The people
at large were prosperous and contented ; new schools
sprang up everywhere ; railways and canals were flinging
abroad the seeds of golden harvests ; and its rulers found
wiUing and enlightened helpmates in the Talukdars, whose
submission to our rule had been rewarded by the restora-
tion of their former rights and powers. What causes of
dilJerence at first lay seething between them and the
tenant-farmers of a certain standing, were dispelled or
abated by the measure which Sir John Lawrence carried
in 1866 for securing the right of hereditary cultivators to
hold their lands at the old accustomed rates.
The Panjab, Dalhousie's model province, had thriven
steadily under the rule of Sir Robert Montgomery and his
widely-loved successor. Sir Donald McLeod. In no other
part of British India did the people show equal readiuess
to pluek the best fruits of Western civilisation. The
North-Westem Provinces were fast recovering from the
combined effects of the great mutiny and the famine of
1861. Railways and public works gave a new impulse to
trade and labour, while irrigation doubled and trebled
the produce of the fruitful plains between the Ganges and
the Janma. When drought once more visited these pro-
■vinees in 1868 its worst horrors were averted by the new
growth of railways and canals. Distress there was, of
course, in some places, but the great Ganges Canal, with
its 650 miles of main stream and 3,000 of branch chan-
nels, saved nearly a million acres from drying up. A like
service on a smaller scale was rendered by the Eastern
Jamna Canal and the channels that water Rohilkhand and
Dera Dhiin, while the surplus grain of Audh was poured
by rail into those districts where the drought was sorest.*
Less fortunate were the sufferers in Orissa during the
» In RdjpnWna, however, there was great distress from the drought
of 1868.
2c2
868 HISTOUY OF INDIA.
groat famine of 1866. A scanty rainfall in the previous
year had been followed by a widespread dearth. The
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal shut his eyes to the tokens
of coming disaster, until it was too late to pour in supphes
of food by sea. Before relief came with the close of the
next rainy reason, nearly a million souls had died of
hunger or disease in a province containing about four
millions. In the neighbouring province of Madras a like
disaster was averted by the zeal with which its governor.
Lord Napier, took timely measures to relieve his sufiering
people. Maisor also in the following year was saved by
the efforts of its English rulers from much of the suffering
threatened by a sudden drought.
During these years the whole foreign trade of British
India rose to about a hundred millions sterUng a-year, or
nearly four times as much as the total for 1848. The
revenues of the country had increased in eleven years
from thirty to nearly fifty millions, about five of which
went to pay interest on the public debt. More than
1,500 miles of new railway had been laid down in the
last five years on the Unes projected by Lord Dalhousie.
In almost every province new works of irrigation were
steadily carried forward, or new embankments raised to
lessen the mischief caused by sudden floods. The warm
interest which Sir John took in the well-being of his
European soldiers displayed itself in the building of new
barracks at a heavy cost, while the safety of the empire
against future revolts was ensured by the construction of
fortified posts, which might serve at once to protect our
arsenals, overawe the surrounding country, and furnish
shelter for our countrymen in time of need.
In each of the three presidencies a sanitary commissioner
was for the first time entrusted with the duty of planning
measures for improving the general health of the people
and guarding the military and civil stations from attacks
of proveutible disease. In aid of the former object muni-
LORD KLGIN AND SIR JOHN LAWRENCt. 389
cipal committees, formed largely of natives, and headed by
the civil officers of districts, wore for the first time estab-
lished in the chief towns of the North- Western Provinces,
with power to raise taxes for sanitary purposes on the
towns and villages placed under their control. Important
reforms were also carried out in the pohce of each province
and in the management of the central jails.
Great progress had meanwhile been made in the work
of popular education. The State outlay on schools and
colleges had risen in ton years from £100,000 to £800,000,
the number of pupils from 40,000 to 700,000, and the
number of schools and colleges, supported wholly or in
part by public funds, from a few hundred to nearly 10,000.
Every province bad its own staff of paid teachers, from
the chief director to the humblest of village schoolmasters.
The vernacular, middle, and high schools in each district
were linked together by means of scholarships, which
enabled the best pupils to work their way up from the
village scliool to the local college. Normal schools were
training the youth of one generation to become the teachers
of the next. 54,000 girls were already learning their
lessons in 2,000 schools, while training-schools for women
sprang up here and there under English ladies. Mission
and private schools added thousands of scholars to the
general sum. In many districts natives of rank and
wealth came forward with large subscriptions for the
diffusion of knowledge among their countrymen. Some of
the native princes — notably those of Jaipur, Kolapiir, and
Travankor, were already following the good example of
their neighbours within the British pale.
Much of the impulse so given to the spread of popular
instruction may be traced to the unwearied efforts and
strong personal influence of Sir John Lawrence himself
To him also was largely owing the first successful attempt
to bring the management of Indian forests under the
nursing care of the State. In some other du-ections his
HISTORY OF INDIA.
hand was equally visible. He placed the cotton-culture of
India under the charge of a special commissioner. Manj
hundred miles were added to the telegraph lines, and a
message could be flashed from one end of India to the
other for a uniform charge of one rupee. The ruler of
Kashmir was persuaded to abohsh or reduce the tolls
which hampered the growth of Indian trade with Ladakh
and Turkistan. Like concessions were at length obtained
from the headstrong King of Burmah ; and the first
attempt at opening Western China to oui- Indian trade was
made in 1868, when Captain Sladen set off fi'om Mandalay,
the new Burman capital, on his exploring mission to
Bhamo and Momein. Had the Burmese officers proved
as friendly as the Panthay rulers of Yunan, that journey
might have solved the question of carrjdng English wares
from the Irawadi to the Yangtsi.
Early in January, 1869, Sir John Lawrence took his
final leave of the country in which he had spent the best
years of a useful and eventful Hfe. One of his last acts
was to double the standard weight of letters carried for
half an anna. At the last sitting of his council he passed
a Bill enabling the Taliikdars of Audh to borrow money
from the Government in time of need, on the principles
afready applied in Bombay. On his retm-n to England,
worn out with ceaseless toiling for the public good, he
obtained the peerage to which no Uving Enghshman could
have shown so strong a claim, and which the general voice
of his countrymen would have awarded him ten years
before.
301
CHAPTER III.
LORD MAYO AND LORD NORTHBROOK 1869-1873.
Lord Lawrence was succeeded by the Earl of Mayo, a
statesman of some mark in Lord Derby's Government. A
few weeks after his landing at Calcutta the new Viceroy
set out to exchange greetings with Sher Ali, whose crown-
ing victory over his brother's troops at Ghazni had once
more placed him firmly on the throne of Dost Mohanmiad.
At the magnificent Darbar of Ambala, in the last days of
March, 18G9, the war-worn Amir of Kabul gave Lord Mayo
a rare opportunitj- of playing at once the powerful patron
and the winning host. For ten thousand pounds a month
and a few thousand muskets Sher Ali agreed to be the
friend of our friends and the enemy of our enemies.
The lessons learned by him during that visit were not
forgotten after his return home, and the friendly motives
which had brought him so far away from his own dominions
were not a little strengthened by Lord Mayo's kindly bear-
ing and gi-aoeful words.
The famine of the past year was still sore in Rajputana.
Li spite of the rehef-measm-es ordained by Colonel Keat-
inge, and promoted by some of the native princes, half a
million beings were said to have died of hunger or disease,
while nearly all the cattle perished or were driven beyond
the border. The summer rains fell just in time to save
the Panjab and Central India from a like fate. Later in
the year fever raged among the marshy jungles of Hughli
and Bardwan. Trade declined, and the public revenue
fell far short of the estimated yield. Lord Mayo set
392 HISTORY OF INDIA.
himself to the work of retrenchment with more perhaps
of zeal than discretion. The outlay on pubhc works was
cut down in all directions. The income-tax was doubled
in the autumn of 1869, and trebled in the spring of 1870.
By this measure, which aimed at drawing money from
the pockets of the wealthier trading-classes, the Viceroy
and his finance-minister, Sir R. Temple, succeeded in
restoring the balance between outlay and income at the
cost of their own popularity and of untold oppression on
the part of their native underlings. For every rupee
which reached the Treasury, at least three or four were
squeezed by native harpies for their own profit from the
fears or needs of their helpless countrj-meu. The rich
gave bribes to escape their due share of the hated impost ;
the poor were frightened into paying unlawful demands, or
punished for their resistance by the seizure and forced
sale of their few goods. Meetings against a tax denounced
for one reason or another by all classes and colours were
held in nearly all the chief towns and stations of India ;
petition after petition was sent up by the Chambers of
Commerce, and other bodies representing European or
native interests : the newspapers teemed with instances of
hardship or extortion ; and the Government found itself
at issue with some of its oldest and ablest officers, notably
with Sir WiUiam Muir, the enhghtened ruler of the North-
Westem Provinces.
All this, however, failed for the time to secure the
removal or abatement of an impost utterly at war with
native usages and modes of feeling. Lord Mayo lived,
indeed, to own his error ; but loyalty to his ministers and
the India Office stayed his hands, and for his successor
was to be reserved the credit of doing away wiih the
obnoxious tax.
The landing of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, at
Calcutta, in the last days of 1869, served for a time to
draw people's minds away from their fiscal grievances to
LORD MAYO AND LORD NORTHBROOK. 393
the progress of their princely visitor through his mother's
Indian realms. His welcome everywhere was all that his
own countr3Tnen could have desired. Lord Mayo's taste
for pageantry shone out in the great Calcutta Darbar, at
which the Prince was invested with the Star of India
amidst a picturesque and splendid gathering of English
officers and native chiefs. The Prince was royally feasted
by the native gentry of the capital. Hospitable Rajahs
found sport for him on his upward jom-ney. The great
cities of Upper India received him with all befitting honour.
His visit to Luckuow was greeted by a brilliant gathering
of loyal Talukdars. On the 7th March he played his part
in the formal opening of the railway that links Jabalpiir
with Bombay and Allahabad. The capital of Western
India entertained him with becoming splendour for several
days ; nor was Madras at all behindhand in her eflbrts to
amuse and honour the departing guest.
In spite of his economical efforts, Lord Mayo gave his
best energies to the pushing forward of useful public
works. On the score of cheapness a new system of State
railways was set on foot, to continue and complete the
work begun by the guaranteed companies. The irst of
the new lines, the Khangaum Railway, which links the
cotton marts of Berar to the port of Bombay, was opened
early in 1870 by the Viceroy himself. Other lines destined
to tap the salt-bearing districts in Audh, the Panjab, and
Rajputana, were begun or projected. The first sod of a
State railway from Labor to Peshawar was turned in 1870.
On the older Lines steady progress continued to be made.
The opening of the great bridge over the Satlaj in October
completed the line of railway from Bombay, through
Allahabad and Dehli, to Labor. Only a link or two was
yet wanting in the iron chain which bound Madras to
Bombay. On the last day of 1870 the Eastern Bengal
Railway was completed to Goalando, in Assam. New
roads and canals were making everywhere, new schools
394 HISTOBY OF INDU.
wero founded in every province, a new department of
trade and agriculture was called into being, and the
opening of coal-mines in the Wardah Valley gave promise
of a time when the railways in Western India would cease
to depend on English coal.
The year 1871 opened with the untimely death of Sir
Henry Durand, whose long and able services had only
seven months before been crowned by his promotion from
a seat in the Viceroy's CouncU to the government of tlie
Paujab, in the room of Sir Donald- McLeod. Before the
end of January the peace of India was once more broken
by bands of Loshai savages, whose murderous raid across
the Bengal frontier spread havoc among the outlying
tea-gardens of Kachar. Troops and poUcemen were sent
off to guard the frontier from furtlier ravages ; but, owing
to the lateness of the season, no attempt could then be
made to pursue the raiders into their pathless jungles.
In November, however, two columns, under Generals
Bourchier and Brownlow, set out from different points on
their toilsome march through a land of swamps and dense
bamboo jungle, broken by a succession of steep hills, each
crowned by a stockaded village. Both columns slowly
forced their way through aU obstacles, beating the enemy
wherever they made a stand, and bearing hardships of
everj' kind with the cheerfulness of soldiers confident in
their leaders and in themselves. By the end of February,
1872, their work was over, the Haulong and SaUu chiefs
had yielded at discretion, and the troops quietly marched
back across their own frontier before the rains set in.
Theu' success was largely owing to the careful arrangements
planned at the outset by Lord Napier of Magdala, the
Commander-in-Chief.
Meanwhile the Wahiibi plotters in Bengal had received
a severe check from the trial and condemnation of Amir
Khan and some of his accomplices. In the Panjab a new
danger to the public peace revealed itself in a number of
LORD MAYO AND LORD NORTHBROOK. 395
murderous outrages inflicted on harmless Mussulman
butchers by Sikh fanatics of the new Kiika sect, whose
leader was Ram Singh. Condign punishment overtook
the murderers ; but some of their brotherhood had yet to
learn the folly of defying a powerful Government. In the
middle of January, 1872, while British troops from Upper
India were massed in the Camp of Exercise near Dehli, a
few hundred of these fanatics sought to raise the Panjab
by a sudden rush into the fort of Malodh, and a daring
attack on the town of Malair-Kotla in Sirhind. Baffled
in the latter attempt, they were speedily hunted down by
the Deputy-Commissioner, Mr. Cowan, and the disai-med
remnant were blown away from guns, with a merciless
contempt of rules which evoked the just censure of the
Indian Government.
In his foreign policy Lord Mayo was equally cautious
and successful. When civil war raged between Sher Ali
and the unfilial Yakiib Khan, the Viceroy's friendly
counsels bore fruit in the timely reconcihation of the
combatants, and in a large concession to the just demands
of Sher All's ablest and most popular son. An old
boundary dispute between Persia and Khelat was finally
settled by Sir Frederick Goldsmid, acting as umpire for
the Indian Government. A like dispute between Persia
and Afghanistan regarding Sistan was in course of settle-
ment by the same officer. The King of Burmah was at
length persuaded to proclaim free trade throughout his
dominions. In the quarrels of petty potentates on the
Persian Gulf, Lord Mayo interfered only when they seemed
to imperil the interests of British subjects. Over the
Indian chiefs and nobles who thronged to his frequent
Darbars, his fine tact and com-tly breeding conspired with
a certain taste for pomp and splendour to strengthen
the influence naturally due to his viceregal rank and
powers.
Like many of his predecessors, he displayed a keen
896 HISTORY OF INDIA.
appetite for hwd work, and a searching eye for details,
however trifling. One of his rides before breakfast would
have been for most men a good day's work. Now hunjing
from one frontier post to another, anon inspecting the site
for a new hill-station; one while opening a new line of
railway ia a cotton district, at another exchanging courtesies
with the high-born princes of Eajputana or pohtical talk
with the Maharajah of Kashmir ; he went everywhere,
saw and heard everything for himself, and turned his new
knowledge to the best account. The abuses he discovered
in the department of Public Works were exposed and
repressed with a single eye for the public good. Few-
Viceroys have ever taken a keener or more inteUigent
interest in all schemes for developing India's productive
wealth ; nor did even Lord William Bentinck show greater
zeal in the task of keeping down the gi'owing outlay at
the least possible sacrifice of the public needs.
During these years many useful and important measures
became law. A Hindu Wills Act, framed by ]\Ii'. Fitzjames
Stephen, Law Member of the Council, gave a legal sanction
to practices more or less conflicting with old Hindu usage.
The Panjab Tenancy Act defined and guarded the rights
of occupiers under former settlements. A new amendment
of the Penal Code assimilated the Indian law against
sedition to that of England. Bills for legahsing the
marriages of Brahmists and other dissenters from the
prevailing creeds were carried after much debating. An
important measure for dealing with the criminal tribes of
India, and an Act for checking the nuisance of European
loafers, were likewise passed. In the Bengal Legislature
fresh safeguards were enacted on behalf of Coohe emigrants
to the tea-gardens of Assam. The Government of Bengal
was for the first time empowered to raise cesses on the
land for the extension of roads and schools. In England
an Act was passed in 1860 which limited the service of
members of the Home Council to ten years, and took
LORD MAYO AND LORD NORTHBROOK. 397
away from the Council itself the right of appointing half
its own number.
A yet more important measure of administrative reform
was applied in 1871, when the local governments ■were
for the first time entrusted with the miinagement of all
revenues required for local purposes. By this arrangement
a due proportion of the imperial revenues was yearly
allotted to the several provinces for disbursement on
roads, schools, jails, police, and some other items hitherto
supervised by the Central Government. Thenceforth each
local governor was free to frame his own budget, to spend
as he might deem best the money assigned him from the
common fund, and to raise new taxes at need from his
own province in aid of the purposes for which that money
was to be assigned. A new guarantee for thrift in pro-
vincial outlay was thus supplied by the transfer to provincial
rulers of a part of the power hitherto wielded by the
Central Government alone.
Lord Mayo's active and useful career was suddenly cut
short by the knife of an assassin on a remote island in
the Bay of Bengal. On the 24th January, 1872, he
embarked from Calcutta on a tour of inspection whose
promised goal was Orissa. Some days of busy sight-seeing
were spent at Kangoon and Maulmain. On the 8th
February he reached Port Blair, to examine for himself
the new convict settlement in the Andaman Islands.
After a hard day's work he reached the pier, where a boat
was waiting to carry him and his party aboard their vessel.
The brief twilight of the tropics had already faded into
night. In a moment an unseen convict, a Pathan who
had been transported for murder done in the Panjab,
sprang out of the darkness, and, before help could reach
his victim, the stroke had been dealt which deprived India
of an able ruler, and the native princes of a wise and
honoured friend. In another moment the murderer was
pinned by those around him, but his sharp knife and
398 HISTOBY OF INDIA.
strong arm had done their work. Half-an-hour afterwai'ds
Lord Mayo breathed his last, a victim to the frenzy of a
young savage soured by brooding over his fancied wrongs,
and reckless of the means he took to gratify at once his
thirst for vengeance and his fanaticism
The tidings of Lord Mayo's death thrilled all India with
horror and genuine grief. All classes of his subjects
mourned the loss of a ruler whose winning manners and
honest zeal for the pubhc good had secured the affection
or the respect even of those who disliked some parts of
his public policy. Hindus and Mohammadans alike came
forward to express their loyal sympathy with the widow
of a Viceroy whose strong good sense had bidden fair to
undo the mischief caused by his earlier fiscal measures,
and whose efforts to redress or abate Mohammadan
grievances were already bearing fruit when the hand of
a Mussulman savage laid him low. On the princes and
nobles of India his death came like a personal bereavement.
Sindia's exclamation, "I have made and lost a friend,"
bore touching witness to the kindly tact and skill with
which Lord Mayo won the hearts and moulded the poUcy
of the native rulers. As a personal fi'iend, indeed, he was
mourned not only by the highest in the land, but by all
who had ever felt the charm of personal intercourse with
perhaps the most genial statesman of his day.
For a few months his place was worthily filled by Lord
Napier, the retiring Governor of Madias. Early in May,
however, the new Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, took up the
reins of government at Calcutta, laden with the fruits of
a long previous training in the India Office, the Admiralty,
the War Office, and one or two other departments of the
State. His new career may be said to have begun at
Simla, where, in compliance with recent usage, he and his
Council passed the hot and rainy season of 1872. One of
his first acts betrayed a becoming care to walk in the steps
of his latest predecessors. The Russian conquerors of
LORD MAYO AND LORD NORTHBROOK. 399
Bokhara were about to punish the Ivhiin of Kliiva, the
ancient Kharizm, for the many outrages inflicted year by
year on Russian subjects by his man-stealing and mur-
dering Turkmans. An envoy from Khiva besought Lord
Northbrook to step in between his master and the coming
danger. Lord Xorthbrook answered by a friendly message
counselling the Khan to oft'er timely amends for the
misdeeds laid to his account. Had his advice been
honestly followed, perhaps the Russian advance to Eiiva
in 1873 might never have taken place.
After some months spent in useful if unobtrusive work,
the new Viceroy set out in October on a tour of inquiry
through nearly all the chief towns of Northern, Western,
and Central Lidia, from Labor to Bombay and Jabalpiir.
Darbars were held at several places on his road, which
brought him into friendly contact with a host of princes
and great nobles north of the Tapti, from Patiala to Indor.
The two great Maratha feudatories, Holkar and Sindia,
vied with each other in the splendour of the welcome
given by the one at Bombay, by the other at Barwai, to
their viceregal guest. In those two months of constant
travel Lord Northbrook laid in fresh stores of practical
knowledge on all the leading questions of the day.
Foremost among these was the question of taxation.
In a populous country ruled by a handful of strangers
from afar, it behoves the rulers above all things to abstain
from laying heavy or unwonted burdens on the subject
millions. The murmurs provoked throughout India by
the fiscal experiments of late years, especially by the in-
come-tax of 1870, had not been silenced by the subsequent
lowering of that unpopular impost. Even Lord Mayo s
concession of larger powers to the local governments be-
came, in the popular fancy, a mere blind for further in-
roads on the tax-paying classes. From the first, however,
Lord Northbrook set himself to grapple with the salient
causes of popular discontent. A careful inquiry into all
400 HISTORY OF INDIA.
the taxes and cesses levied throughout India issued in
the collection of a large body of facts and opinions, which
served to guide and strengthen the Viceroy's efforts in the
field of financial reform. The lessons he had thus been
learning emboldened him in March, 1873, to abolish the
income-tax altogether, to proclaim the early enforcement
of a road-cess in Bengal, and to warn the local govern-
ments against any further increase of the local burdens.
In the early part of the same year the excitement lately
caused, both in India and at home, by the progresB of
Russian arms and influence in Central Asia, was in some
measure allayed by the readiness of the Russian Government
to acknowledge and respect the new line of frontier laid
down by the India Office for Afghanistan, as the limit of
English influence in the regions bordering the Panjab.
Later interviews between Lord Northbrook and a special
envoy from Kabul have already issued in a renewal of the
friendly assurances exchanged between Lord Mayo and
Sher Ali at the Ambala Darbar. In the interests of Indian
trade with Turkistan, Mr. Forsyth is already leading a
second embassy to the court of our good fiiend Moham-
mad Khush Begi, the firmly established ruler of Kashgar,
Khotan, and other provinces not long wrested from
Chinese rule. Another mission, headed by Sir Bartle
Frere, set out from England, towards the close of 1872,
for the purpose of checking the rampant slave-trade along
the eastern coast of Afi-ica, bj' means of fresh treaties
with the Sultan of Zanzibar and the adjacent chiefs. It
was not till after the leader of the mission had returned
home that the reluctant Sultan was coaxed or frightened
into joining in the new crusade against a traffic which his
own connivance and the cunning of not a few Indian
traders had done so much to foster and extend.
To this brief record of work done or doing by India's
present rulers not much remains to add. Lord North-
brook's past achievements give large assurance of the good
LORD 5IAY0 AND LORD NORTHBROOK. 401
things yet to come from a ruler ^vho has already stamped
his own character on the general management of Indian
affairs. A band of able and active statesmen are engaged
in governing the several pro'S'inces of his broad empire.
The native princes have begun to emulate the example set
them by their English neighbom-s. At home a pai'liamen-
tary committee has for the last three years been steadily
pushing its inquu-ies into eveiy branch of Indian outlay
and taxation ; inquiries pregnant, we may hope, -nith the
seeds of future progi'ess in well-doing.
In India itself the general outlook is veiT cheering.
The people at large are prosperous and contented. Dark
spots of course there are amidst the surrounding bright-
ness ; Bengal at this moment is threatened with a wide-
spread famine ; and our well-meant efforts to govern two
hundred milUons of Asiatics for their own good, on principles
derived from Europe, may sometimes clash with the pre-
judices, habits, or seeming interests of the governed. A
good deal of mischief may here and there be wrought by
our ignorance or contempt of native feelings, by the op-
pression which native underlings too often exercise in
their master's name, by the rigid rules and processes of
district law-courts, and by the system which still in great
measure shuts out the native gentry from high office and
honourable careers in their own land. Under the working
of om* laws and revenue system not a few estates have
passed away from the hands of their ancient owners into
those of men enriched by trade or successful usury. In
some of the native States misrale and oppression still defy
the gentle remonstrances of the Paramount Power ; and
the Mohammadans of Bengal still nurse their real or
fancied gi'ievances against a rule which virtually excluded
fi-om the public service all natives who declined to pass
thi'ough the Government schools.
It must, however, be allowed that India on the whole is
better governed and more Ughtly taxed than it ever was
2 D
402 HISTORY OF INBIA.
beforn. Tho returns of the census for 1872 tell their own
tale of peaceful progress in the growing numbers and
well-being of the people at large. In Bengal Sir George
Campbell is doing his best to save the Raynts from un-
lawful exactions at the hands of greedy Zamindars, and to
enable his Mohammadan subjects to educate themselves
in their own way. The Indian Government has slept in
betimes between the Santals and the Hindu money-lenders
who were goading them into a state of dangerous unrest.
The old distrust of native agency in the higher offices of
the State is slowly but surely giving way. Native judges
have won their way into the high courts of more than one
province ; native gentlemen sit on Municipal Committees,
on the bench of magistrates, in the Legislative CouncUs ;
natives are already thi-onging the higher ranks of the Un-
covenanted Service ; and the doors of the Covenanted
Civil Service have at length been opened to native candi-
dates who passed the needful examinations in this country.
If English influence has given new life to the iudusti-y
and trade of India since the days of the mutiny, it has
also been helping forward the moral progress of the people
committed to our charge. Ever since the mutiny the tide
of social and religious change has been rising higher and
higher against the strongholds of ancient creeds and
customs. In Southern India and among the rude aborigi-
nal races elsewhere the Clu'istian missions have made an
increasing number of converts, and the influence of
Christian ideas may be traced in the gi-owth of that
religious movement which obeys the leadership of the
gifted Babu, Keshab Chandar Sen. In many parts of
India the natives willingly send their children to the mis-
sion schools, and many a native gentleman has learned
from contact with Christian example to eschew the grosser
practices of his own creed. A spirit of inquiiy, of growing
deference to modem needs, has begim to reign among the
priests themselves of the old religion. Reverend Pandits
LORD MAYO AND LORD NORTHBROOK. 403
have lately discovered that a Hindu may cross the seas with-
out losing caste, that Hindu widows may marry again without
deadly sin, and that the eating of flesh is not forbidden by
the Vedas. Some of the leading Hindus have gone so far
as to denounce polygamy, and to educate their daughters
in the learning of the West.
In many places the march of new ideas has borne fruit
in the formation of societies, and the holding of public
meetings to discuss questions of social and political re-
form. Native ladies are beginning to exchange the
privacy of the Pardah * for that freer intercourse of men
and women which prevails in Europe. All this, indeed,
may count for Httle beside the dense array of ignorance,
bigotry, and superstition, which still confronts the observer
at every turn. But the new leaven has begun to work,
and in due time its task for good or evil will surely be ac-
complished.
* The Pardah is the screen, or curtain, ^^'hich hange before the ea-
trance to the Zenana, or women's apartments.
THE END.
IJJJDEX.
Abyssinian campaign, the, under
General Napier, 3s4.
Adam, Mr., hia policy towards the
Press, 304.
Afghanistan, British invasion of,
317, &c.
Agra, capture of, by the British, 282.
Ahmadabad rescued b}- Akbar,
111; capture of, by the Mai-ii-
thas, 16S).
Ahmad Khan (Abdali Afghan),
afterwards Ahmad Shah, in-
vades India — repulsed by the
Moghals, 167 ; conquers the Pan-
jab— routs the Marathasat Pani-
pat, 175.
Ahmad Shah (Emperor of Dehli),
blinded and deposed by Ghazi-
ud-din, 168.
Ahmadnagar, e.arly sieges of, 113 ;
capture of, by General Welles-
ley, 281.
Ajmi'r, conquest of, 159.
Akbar (Emperor), defeats Hemu,
1U7 ; conquers Gujarat, Bengal,
and Kashmir, 110-112; death '
and character of, 116-119. I
Akbar Khan defeated by General ■
Sale, 324.
Alambagh, storming of the, 366.
Ala-ud-din (Sultan) ascends the
throne of Dehli, 56 ; his con-
quests in the Dakhan, 57, Ac. ;
his home policy, 59, <S:c.
Albuquerque, General, first Por-
tuguese Viceroy in India, 96 ;
bis supersession and death, 97.
Alexander the Great crosses the
Indus, 28 ; defeats Porus, 29.
Alfred, Prince, his visit to Cal-
cutta— his progress through
India, 392, 393.
Aligarh, capture of, by General
Lake, 281.
Aliw.il, battle of, 332.
Allahabad, state of, during the
mutiny, 359; grand darbar at,
380.
Ambela, storming of, 383.
Amboyna, massacre at, 128.
Ambiir, brave defence of, by Cap-
tain Calvert, 219.
Amir Khan (the Wahabi), trial of,
394.
Amherst (Lord) appointed Go-
vernor-General, 304 ; his war
with Burmah, 305; his retire-
ment, 308.
Andaman Islands (The), murder
of Lord Mayo at, 397.
Angria (pirate Lord of Kolaba),
Maratha warfare with, 163 ; he
is defeated by the EngUsh, 177.
Anwar-ud-din, Nawab, lays claim
to Madras, 179; his defeat by
Dupleix, ISO.
Appa Sahib, his intrigues, de-
thronement, and death, 299.
Avkot, siege of, 1^5.
Ashti, battle of, 299.
Asirgarh, capture of, 84, 281.
Assai, battle of, 281.
Assam, conquest of, 304,
Argatim, battle of, 282.
Auckland (Lord), appointed Go-
vernor-General— takes part with
Shah Shtija, 315; his foreign
policy and retirement, 315-322.
Audh, cessions made to, 22G ;
Hastings' treaty with tlieXawab
of, 248 ; annexation of, 345 ;
mutiny in, 358.
Aurangzilj, his invasion of the
Dakhan, 132 ; usurps his father's
thi'one, 134 : his wars in the
Dakhan and Korthern India,
140-147; death and character,
148, ic.
•106
Azim, Prince, claims the Moghal
throne — lu3 defeat and death,
151.
Babar conquers Kabul, the Panjab,
and Hindustan, 76, 77 ; his
death, 101.
Badli Serai, battle of, 361.
Baduwal, battle of, 332.
Babar, revolts in. 102; revolt
during the mutiny of 1857, 370.
Baji Eao (Peshwa), his conquests
160-162; his death, 163.
Baji Eao II., his intrigues, 268;
his treaty with the English,
280.
Balaji Eao (Peshwa), 168, *c.
Balban, King of Dehli, 54.
Balkh, conquest of, but abandoned
by its conquerors, 130.
Banaras, insurrection in, 248.
Bangalor, fall'of, 255.
Baramahal, conquest of the, 255.
Baraset, Mohammadan rising at,
311.
Barlow, Sir George, acts as Vice-
roy instead of Lord Cornwallis,
287 ; transfer to Madras, 290.
Barracks in India, extensive
building of, 389.
Baxar, battle of, 209, 210.
Behram Khan (General in Akbar's
army) rules at Dehli, revolts
against Akbar and is murdered
on a pilgrimage, 107, 108.
Bengal, early revolts in, 65, 70, 84 ;
English occupation of, 198;
erected into a Presidency and
Lieutenant-Governorship, 153,
;J48 ; great famine in, 221 ; ar-
rival of missionaries in, 289 ;
]")ermanent settlement of, 261.
Bentinck (Lord W.) recalled from
Madras, 289 ; appointed Go-
vernor-General, 308 ; history of
his administration, 309, Ac. ;
retirement, 313.
Be'rar surrendered to Morad, 113 ;
treaty with the English, 281, 342.
Bernadotte, Sergeant (future King
of Sweden), captiured by the
English, 244.
Betwah, battle of— defeat of Tia-
tiaTopi, 371.
Bhamo, mission to, 390.
Bhartpur, siege of, and peace with
the English, 284, 285; captiu'e
of— dethronement of the Rajah,
308.
Bhopal, British alliance with, 297.
Bhot^in, war with, 383, 384.
Bijapur, inva.sion of, 130-133 ; con-
quest of, by Aurangzib, 145.
Bijigarh, capture of, 248.
Black Hole of Calcutta, 190 ; fate
of the English prisoners im-
mtired therein, 191.
Brahma Samaj. sect of the, 21.
Brydon, Dr., his adventures in
Kabul, and safe arrival at Jala-
labad, 31.5.
Bundalkhand, revolts in, 102 ;
English victories in, 367, 371.
Burmah, first war with, 212;
second war, capture of R:in-
goon — annexation of Pegu, 341 ;
(British) under Sir Arthur
Phayre, 386.
Bumes (Sir Alexander), mission
to Kabul, 316 ; his murder, 319.
Cachar, annexation of, 304, .306 ;
raids in, resulting in the Lushai
war, 394.
Calcutta, foundation of, 152 ; ar-
rival of Warren Hastmgs as
president at — transfer of the
seat of government to, 223.
Calcutta Medical College, institu-
tion of the, 304.
Campbell (Col.), his final advance
en Ava, 304.
Campbell (Sir Colin), relief and
capture of Lucknow during the
mutiny by, 367, 370.
Canals, 347 ; and irrigation works.
72, 347.
Canning(Lord),Govemor-G enera!,
350 ; measures to suppress the
mutiny of 1857, 358 ; his merci-
ful poUcy, 368; "sanads"
granted by him, .379; retire-
ment, death, and character of.
380, 381.
Camac, Colonel, takes command
of the English army against the
Marathas, 210 ; defeat of Sindia
by, 237.
Camatic, the, invaded by the
Pathans. 58 ; and the Marathas,
166; French invasion, 189;
revenues of the, assigned to the
English, 242 ; absorption of the,
274.
407
Cautley (Colonel) constrncts the
engineering works of Gangea
Canal in India, 347.
Cawnpore, massacre of the gar-
rison at, during the mutiny, 357 ;
re-entered by the English on the
defeat of the mutineers, 359 ;
Brigadier-General Windham's
defence of, 367.
Central Provinces of India, re-
forms of Sir E. Temple in the,
386.
Champandr, capture of, 102.
Chanderi, capture of, 100, 371.
Chauth, the, a Maracha tax first
levied by Siv.iji. 141.
Chilianwaia, battle of — defeat of
the Sikhs, 337.
Chingiz Khan invades Kharizm
and Kabul. 54.
Chin Kihch Khan appointed vizier
at Dehli — suppresses a revolt in
Gujarat — retires to the Dakhan,
158 ; attacks the Marathas near
Bopal — surrenders Malwa, 159,
160 ; suppresses his son's revolt
— ^his death, 166.
Chitor, capture of — self-devotion
of the Rajput garrison, 109.
Chunar, capture of. 103 ; English
repulsed from, 210.
Civil Service of India, the, placed
open to public competition, 348.
Clerk (Sir G.), energetic proceed-
ings of, at Labor, 320, 322.
Clive (Colonel), hiS defence of
Arkot, 185, 186 ; proceeds to
Trichinopoly, 187 ; retakes Cal-
cutta, 192; marches against
Chandanagor, which surrenders,
193 : capture of Katwa, 195 ;
battle of Plassy, 196, 197 ; Clive
made Governor of Fort "Wil-
liam, 198 ; returns to England,
199 ; Clive (Lord Clive) returns
to India — treaty with the Nawab
of Audh, 211; suppresses a mu-
tiny of officers — his reforms in
the Civil Government of Bengal,
212; returns to England — ill-
treated at home, 214 ; his de-
fence and death, 215.
Coote (Sir Eyi'e), defeats the
French at Madras — effects the
relief of Tellor, 241 ; retires to
Bengal— death of, 244.
Cornwallis (Lord), Governor-
General of India, 252; con-
cludes a treaty with the jsizam,
253; marches on Seriugapatam
— offers terms to Tippu, 2.^6 ; his
administrative reforms, 262 ; re-
tirement of, 266 ; resumes the
Ticeroyship, 287 ; death of, 288.
Dabba, or Haidarabad, battle of,
327.
Dahir, Sindian Eajah, and his
queen both fall in battle, 44.
Dakhan, first invasion, <Src., 56 ;
second invasion of, 57 ; third
invasion, bS ; successive wars
in, 113, 130, 132; invaded by
Aurangzib, 144 ; Hosen AU
named Viceroy — he makes peace
with the Marathas, 156 ; Chin
Kilich Khan and the ilarathas,
160.
Dalhousie (Marquis of) lands in
India, 335 ; declares war with
the Sikhs— the Afghans join
them, 336 ; the second Burmese'
War, 341, &c. ; annexes Pegu,
342; his administrative genius,
and reforms. 346, 347 ; cheap
uniform postage, 348 ; his able
farewell minutes — final retire-
ment and death, 349.
Dara, Prince (Dara Sheko), de-
feated by Aurangzib, 133; cap-
ture, trial, and execution of,
136.
Da lid Khan heads a revolt in
Bengal — his death. 111.
Daulat Khan Lodi invites Babar
into Hindustan, 76.
Dehli ruled by Kntab-ud-din, 51 ;
the KhUji Dynasty of, 56-64;
Toghlak, Saiyid, and Lodi Dy-
nasties, 65-79 ; massacres of
Timur, 73 ; Babar and his suc-
cessore, 99-175 ; buildings of
Shah Jahan, 132 ; sacked by
Ahmad Shah the Durani, 171 ;
mutiny in, 356 ; siege of, by the
English, 36 1 ; storming of, under
General Nicholson — the king
taken prisoner — fate of the
Dehli princes — trial and sentence
of the king, 362-364.
Devikatta (Fort), capture of, 181.
Dhig, battle and capture of, 284.
Diu, siege of — sufferings of the
Portuguese garrison, 95, 96, 97.
408
INDEX.
Donabyu, capture of, by Sir J.
Cheape, 341.
Dost Mohammad applies for Enp-
lish aid — Lord Auckland's cold
reply, 31G, 317 ; surrender, 318 ;
and'liberation, 326 ; death— civil
war between his sons, 385.
Drake (Hon. Mr.), Governor of
Fort William— his defence of
Calcutta — diplomacy and com-
pelled flight, I'JO.
Dupleix, Governor of Pondicherry,
177 ; his brilliant career, 179-
184 ; retirement, and subsequent
misfortune.'^, 189.
Dutch and English fleets, the,
opposed to the Portuguese, 97,
198, 199.
Dutch fleet, the, appears in the
Hiighli — defeated and captured,
198 ; peace between the English
and the Dutch, 199.
East India Company, formation of
the — mission of Captain Haw-
kins to the court of Akbar, 12tl j
erection of factories at Pipli,
Hiighli, and Balasdr, 134 ;
granted anew charter by Charles
II. — the seat of the Company's
rule transferred from Surat to
Bombay, 150; Calcutta given
up to the, andfortified, 152, 153 ;
become masters of Bengal, 210 ;
cession of Gantur to the, 253 ;
mutiny among the English
officers in India, 269 ; renewal
of the Company's charter, 287 ;
the charter of 1833, 313 ; and of
1853 — the Court of Directors
remodelled, 348 ; the govern-
ment of India undertaken by
tlie Crown, 377, 378.
East India Company (French),
abolition of the, 201.
East India Finance Committee,
the, appointed by Parliament,
401.
Edwardes (Lieutenant Herbert)
defeats the rebel Mulraj, Go-
vernor of Miiltan, 33ii ; Colonel
Edwardes at Peshawar, 357.
Elgin (Lord) appointed Governor-
General of India — his journey
through the upper provinces —
his death, 382.
EUenborough (Lord) appointed
Governor-General, 322 ; his
bombastic proclamation — re-
wards to the victors in the
Kabul campaign, 326 ; his re-
call, 328.
Ellis (Mr.), of the Patna Factory,
murder of, 206.
Farokhsi'r, successor to the Em-
peror Jahandur, 156 ; deposition
and death, 167 ; his concessions
to the English, 176.
Firoz Shah, his expedition into
Sindh, 70 ; character as a ruler,
71 ; abdication in favour of hia
son — his death, 72.
Firozshahr, battle of, 331.
Forest Department of India, the,
389.
Forsyth (Mr.), his mission to
Kashgar, 400.
Francis (Sir Philip), 228. 229, ic.
Frere (Sir Bartle), his mission to
Zanzibar — effects a treaty to
suppress the slave trade, 400.
Ganges river, first steam voyage
on the, 319.
Garakotah, capture of, 371. .
Ghazni, capture of, 317, 325.
Ghiyas-ud-din Toghlak ascends
the throne of Dehli, Co ; his
death, 6G.
Ghorakpur, Gurkha invasion of,
295.
Gillespie (Colonel) suppresses the
mutiny at Velldr, 289 ; valour at
Kalanga, and death, 295.
Golkonda invaded by Aurangzib —
fall of, 132.
Gough (Sir Hugh), victories on
the Satlaj, 330-333 ; is raised
to the peerage. 333 ; defeats the
Sikhs at ChiUanwala, 338 ; and
Gujarat, 339.
Gujarat invaded by Mohammad
Kasim, 45 ; conquest of — cap-
ture of the Rajput queen, 56 ;
Mozaffar Shah's revolt. 111 ; his
capture and death, 112: Guja-
rat (Panjab), battle of. 338.
Gwalior, surrender of. to Sir Hugh
Gough, 328 ; captiu^d during
the mutiny by Sir H. Eose, 372.
Haidar Ali Khan, rise of — de-
thrones the Raj;ih of Maisor,
409
217 ; march upon Madras— dic-
tates peace, '219 ; disastrous
peace \vith the Marathas, 221 ;
invades the Carnatio, 239 ; cap-
tures Arkot — defeated by Coote
at Porto Novo — a^ain defeated
at ShoUmgarh, 241 ; death of,
244.
Haidarabad, battle of, 327.
Half-batta order, the, 217.
Hardinge (Sir Henrj') appointed
Governor-General,'3L'H ; his war
with the Sikhs, 330, 4c. ; his re-
tirement—raised to the peerage,
333, 334.
Harpfil, rebel leader in the Dak-
han, flayed alive, 03.
Hastings (Warren) arrives at
Madras, 222 ; is made President
at Calcutta — his proceedings
against Mohammad Reza Khan
and Shi'tab Kai, 223 ; his guar-
rel with Francis, 228, &c. ; war
with the Marathas, 236, &c. ;
with Haidar All, 241 ; treaty
with the Nawab of Audh, 248 ;
retirement, and reception in
England, 249 ; proceedings
against liim in the House of
Commons, 250 ; impeachment
before the Lords, and triumph-
ant acquittal — his final appear-
ance before the Commons — his
death, 251.
Hastings, Marquis of, directs ex-
peditions against Nipal and the
Pindaris, 295, 296 ; his policy
towards the native princes, 302.
Havelock (Sir Henry) advances on
Cawnpore and defeats the Nana
Sahib, 359 ; relieves Lucknow,
366.
Heber (Bishop) death, and charac-
ter of, 308.
Herat, besieged by the Pereians,
316 ; their repulse by Pottinger,
317.
Holkar and Sindia, originally
lieutenants to Baji Rao, 159.
Holkar, Jeswant Rao, attacked
by Lake at Farokabad, 27/ ;
peace efJected with, 300 ; mad-
ness and death, 288.
Holwell (Hon. Mr.) succeeds
Drake as Governor of Fort Wil-
ham, 190 ; his surrender of
Fort William — imprisonment of
the garrison in the " Black
Hole," 191, 192.
Humiiyun, son of Babar, his che-
quered reign, 102, Ac; death,
and character, 106.
Impey (Sir Elijah), Chief Justice
of Bengal, 229 ; appointed to the
Sadr Dewani Adalat, 246 ; his
recall, 247.
India, general sketch of, xlvii, i'C ;
its early history and civilisa-
tion, 1-42 ; first Aryan settle-
ments in, 22, &c. ; Greek inva-
sion of, 28.
Indian mythology, 3, &c. ; reli-
gions, 6, 7, 10, 19, 21 ; castes,
10, i-c. ; astronomy, 35 ; arith-
metic, medicine, 30 ; literature,
37 ; architecture, 38 ; engineer-
ing, handicrafts, 40 ; trade, 41 ;
manners, 42 ; Marriage Act,
397 ; local governments, powers
of, 397 ; local council, 376 ;
revenues under the Crown, 389.
Indigo riots, the, 383.
Indrapat, battle of, 64.
Jabalpnr Railway, opening of the,
393.
Jahiindar Shah, Emperor of Dehli,
156 ; murdered by Farokhsir, bis
nephew, who succeeds him, 156.
Jahangir, or Selim, accession, 121 ;
victories, rescue, and death of,
122-125.
Jaipur, capture of, 297.
Jalalabad, relief of, 323.
Jaimpur, revolt in, 102.
Jhausi, capture of, 371.
Jinji, capture of, 147,
Kabul, General Elphinstone's de-
fence of — treachei-y of the Af-
ghans— Elphinstone's disastrous
retre.atfrom, 315 ; re-occupied by
the British, 325.
Kalanga, capture of, 295.
Kalpi, captured by Sir H. Rose,
372.
Kalra, storming of, rout of the
Sikhs, 338.
Kananor, fall of, 255.
Kandahar, surrendered to the
Moghals by its Governor— re-
captured by the Persians, 130.
410
INDEX.
Kankan, Mogbal invasion of the,
144 ; pirates of the, 176.
Karigaum, gallant defence of. 298.
Ka.shgar, Mr. Forsyth's mission
to, 400.
Kashmir, successive inva-sions of,
27 ; ruins and architectural
remains of, 39 ; made over to
Guliib Singh, 332.
Kattak, conquest of, 282.
Katwa, capture of, 196.
Keshab Chaudar Sen, modem
ilrahmist leader and teacher,394.
Kluindesh, conquered by the
Moghals, 114.
Khelat, capture of, 318.
Khilji insurrection, the, 320
Khushab, battle of, 3ol,
Kidd {Capt, William), piratical
adventurer in the Indian seas,
153.
Kirld, battle of, 299, 300.
Koimbator captured, 2.^6.
Kols of Bengal, rebellion of the,
311.
Kurg, annexation of, 311.
Labor, first capture of, 50 ; Met-
calfe's mission to, 290 ; the
British advance on, and treaty
with — Col. Lawrence appointed
Resident, 332.
Laing (Hon. Mr.), financial reforms
of, 380.
Lake (G-eneral), his Maratha cam-
paigns, 282 ; bis failure against
Bhartpiir, 285.
Lally captures Fort St. David —
lays siege to Madras — his re-
treat and rout by Col. Coote,
199, 200.
La3wari, battle of, 277.
LawTence (Major), victor of Devi-
katta, relieves Trichinopoly —
suiTender of the French to him,
187.
Lawrence (Sir Henry) at the Pan-
jab Board of Administration,
339; his defence of Lucknow,
and death, 365.
Lawrence (Sir John), made Chief
Commissioner of the Panjab,
347 ; his prompt help in the
great mutiny, 357 ; pension
voted to, 376 ; made Governor-
General of India, 383; retire-
meat, 390.
Laws of inheritance, changes in
the Indian, 396.
" Lord Clive's Fund," establish-
ment of, 214.
Loshais, the war with — its success-
ful termination, 394.
Lucknow (luring the mutiny —
General Havelock and after-
wards Sir Colin Campbell re-
lieve the garrison, 366, ic. ; final
capture of the city, 37U.
Macaulay (Mr. Thomas Babing-
ton) nominated to the Supreme
Council, 3U4 ; author of the
" Penal Code" for India, 379,
380.
Macn.aghten (Sir W.), envoy at
Kabul, 318; murder of, by Ak-
bar Khan, 319.
Madras first constituted a presi-
dency, 134 ; restored to the
English by the " Peace of Aix
la Chapelle," 180 ; officers,
mutiny among the, 287 ; its
suppression by Sir Geo. Barlow,
287.
Maharajpur, battle of, 328.
M:ihe', capture of, 238.
Mahidpiir, battle of, 295.
Mahmud of Ghazni, his invasions
of India, 47, &c.
Mahmud Toghlak, emperor, his de-
feat by Timur, 73.
Mahomet, sketch of his career
(note), 43, 44.
Maisdr, British occupation of,
304.
Malcolm (Sir John), his embassy
to Persia, 278 ; his second mis-
sion, 291 ; appointed Governor
of Bombay, 308.
Malk.a, fall of, 383.
Malaun, capture of, 295, 296.
Malwa, early conquests of, 53, 83,
84 ; bestowed on Bdlaji Bao,
165.
Mangalor, capture of, 219, 244.
Maratha wars, the, 219, 220, 237,
•246, 329.
Mayo (Earl of) appointed Gover-
nor-(jeneral of India — his State
visit to Sher All — retrenchment
of expenditure, 391 ; his Afghan
policy — settlement of bounda-
ries, 395 ; his foreign policy, and
treatment of feudatories, 396 ;
411
his ioumey to Rangoon — visit
to the Andaman Islands — his
murder, 397.
llperut, mutiny and massacres at,
3bti, and see Mu/in//,
Metcalfe (Sir Charles) undertakes
a mission to Lahor, 'IS'J ; acts as
Governor- General — frees the
Press — retirement of, 315,
Miani, battle of, 327.
Minto (Lord) appointed Governor-
General, 290 ; leading events of
his rule, 290-293.
Mir Kasim — massacres English
prisoners — escapes into Audh,
208.
Mir Jaffir, Nawab of Bengal, 197 ;
bestows lands on the East India
Company, 197, 207.
Mirza Hakim rebels against
Akbar, 111.
Moazzim (Bahadur Shah) defeats
the Sikhs in Sirhind, 155 ; his
death, 166.
Mohammad Shah, Emperor of
Dehli, 157 ; his intrigues, re-
verses, and death, 158, Ac.
Mohammad Toghlak — invasion of
Stndh— his death, 70.
Mohammadans in India, 44.
Moira, Earl of, created Marquis of
Hastings for his conduct of the
Nipalese war, 296.
Mornington, Lord (Marquis Wel-
lesley), appointed Governor-
General, 270 ; conquers Maisdr,
273 (see Marquis Wetlesley).
Mudki, battle of, 330.
Mulraj, Rajah, heads a rising at
Multan — besieged and taken by
the English, o35, 337.
Mutiny of the Bengal Sepoys in
1867, 328-368 (see also Audh,
Cawnpore, Lucknow, Dehli,
Meerut, and other scenes of the
mutiny) ; early disaffection of
Bengal regiments, 340 ; out-
break at Barrackpor^ — the cAa-
2>dthis — mutinies in Audh — sup-
pression— massacres at Meerut
and Dehli — disarmings at Lahor
and Peshawar — punishment of
the Mardan mutineers, 351-357 ;
f riendhness of Dost Mohammad,
and other native princes — the
Rdni of Jhansi's revenge — mas-
sacre of the Cawnpore garrison
— measures of Lord Canning —
Colonel Neil at Bandras and
Allahabad — Havelock defeats
tlte Nana — the English re-entei
Cawnpore — fate of the garrison,
357-360 ; campaign in Central
India, 371, iSic. ; capture of Tan-
tia Topi, 376.
Nadir Shah, his invasion of Hin-
dustan— victorious entry into
Dehli — massacre of the citizens,
162, 163.
Nagptir, capture of, 299 ; annexa-
tiou, 342.
Nana Faruawis, reign and death
of, 260, 268, 279.
Nana Sahib, massacres ordered by,
at Cawnpore, 358, 360.
Nand Kumar, Sir Philip Francis
intrigues with, 229 ; trial and
execution of, 229, 230.
Napier (General Sir C.) conquers
iSindh, 327 j resigns command
of the Indian army, 340.
Napier (Lord), Governor of Mad-
ras, stays the famine in South-
em India, 387, 388 ; acts as suc-
cessor to Lord Mayo, 398.
Narain Rao murdered by Ragoba,
who claims to succeed liim, 234.
Nasir Jang, appointed Viceroy of
the Dakhan, 164 ; his campaign
against the Marathas, 164; and
the French, 181 ; defeat and
death, 182.
Negapatam, capture of, 242.
Nicholson (General) anives before
Dehli, 362 ; his death, 363.
Nipil, expedition against, 295 ;
treaty with, 296, 298.
Northbrook (Lord) appointed Go-
vernor-General of India, 39S ;
tour of Upper and Western
India, 399 ; abolishes the in-
come-tax, 400 ; settlement of the
Afghan frontier, 401.
Northern Sarkars, ceded to the
French, 1S8 ; English conquests
in, 198.
North-Western Provinces, new
land settlement of the, 310 ;
famine in, 387.
Nur-Jahan (Empress) suppresses
the rebellion of Shah Juhan,
who is defeated by her, 124.
412
INDEX.
Ochterlony (Sir DavW), his brave
defence of Dehli, '2Hi ; leads the
expedition against Nipal, 2U5,
296 ; death of, XOH.
Orissa, insurrection of, 302 ; great
famine and loss of hfe in, 387.
Outram {Sir James) effects a re-
treat from Haidarabad, 327 ;
suppresses the South Mar:ltha
rising, 329 ; his Persian cam-
paign, 361 ; marches to the rehef
of Lucknow at the mutiny of
1857 — conducts the storming of
the Alambagh, 366.
Palghat, capture of, 254.
Paniar, battle of, 328.
Panipat, battle of, 77, 78 ; second
battle, and fall of He'mu at, 107 ;
third battle of, 172.
Panjab, early wars in the. 111 ;
early annexation to the king-
dom of Dehli, 81 ; invaded by
Mirza Hakim, 111 ; ruled by
Eanjit Singh, 290, 316 ; annexa-
tion of, 339 ; loyalty of, during
the mutiny of 1857, 357 j under
the administration of Sir D.
McLeod, 387.
Pathans, expulsion from Eohil-
khand, 228.
Patna, massacres of English pri-
soners at — storming of, by the
English, 208.
Pegu, annexation of, 341, 342 j
British administration of, 342.
Persian War of 1856 — capture of
Bushi'r and victory of Khushab
— peace concluded, 351.
Persian Gulf, suppression of
pirates in the, 287.
Pigot (Lord), imprisonment of,
238.
Pindaris, the (robber tribes), sup-
pression of, by the English,
295.
Pitt's India Bill of 1784, 250.
Plassy, battle of, 196, 197.
Pollock, General, marches into
Kabul, through the Khaibar,
324 ; destroys the Great Ba-
zaar, 325.
Pondicherry, the French besieged
in, 200 ; surrender of the place )
several times, 201, 238, 2C6. j
Portuguese, the, early conquests j
in India, 92, 95 ; decline of their
power, 9S.
Portuguese settlements in India,
the, 94-98.
Pottinger (Eldred), his successful
defence of Herat, 319.
Prome, occupation of, 304.
Piina, estabUshment of the Pesh-
wa's Court at, 168 ; capture of
city, 299.
Eajputana, historical account of,
85 ; great famine in, 391.
Ramnagar, battle of, 837.
Rangoon, captured by the Eng-
lish, S05, 341.
Ranjit Singh, aggressive move-
ments of — treaty with, 289 ;
Major Bumes' mission to, 306-
309 ; meeting between Lord
Bentinck and Ranjit Singh at
Rupar, 306-309 ; death of, 318.
Eavatwari, settlement in Madras,
tbe, 299.
Rawal Pindi, the Sikh surrender,
339.
Reinhardt CWalter), alias Sumru,
massacres English prisoners at
Patna, 208.
Roe, Sir Thomas, his embassy to
the Great Jloghal — obtains new
rights for the Company, 127.
Rohilkhand, British victories in,
370.
Rose, Sir Hugh, his victorious
marches through Central India,
371 ; his brilliant strategy, 372,
373.
Sale (General), his defence of
Jalalabad. 324.
Santal war, the, 345, 346.
Satara, absorption of, 342.
Satti, or widow burning, practice
of, 41 ; prohibition of, 309.
Shah Alam (Emperor) invades
Bengal, 198; bestows the go-
verament of Bengal on the
East India Company, 21 1 ; in-
stalled at Dehli by the Marathas,
220.
Shah J.ihan. Emperor of Dehli,
his wars in the Dakhan, 122,
131, 138 ; reduces Udaipur, 122 ;
his revenue reforms, 131 ; de-
throned by Aurangzib. 134.
Shahji Bhosia (Manitha chieftain).
413
conqnests in the Dakhan, 137,
138.
Shah Shuja supported by the
English, 317 ; his death, 325.
Shakespear (Sir Richmond) res-
cues the English captives in
Kabul, 325.
Sher Ali, Amir, wins his father's
throne, 3«5.
Sher Singh (Rajah) deserts Lieut.
Edwaides at Mult.an, 336 ; his
flank march on Labor, 338 j his
defeat and surrender. 339.
Shir Shah founds an Afghan Dy-
nasty at Dehli, 103.
Shore (Sir John) appointed Gover-
nor-General, 26G, '267; dangerous
position of, at Lucknow, "2(j9 ;
retirement of, 269, 270.
Shuja-ud-din, drives the Ostend
East India Company out of
Bankipur, 176.
Shuja-ud-daula repulsed from
Patn.%, 209.
Seringapatam, sieges of, 256, 272,
273.
Sikandar Bagh, the slaughter of
rebels at, 366.
Sikandar Lodi (Emperor), his per-
secution of Hindus, 75.
Sikri, battle of, 100.
Sindh, annexation of, 327.
Sindia (Daulat Rao), liis defeats
by Lord Lake, 2.S2; his sub-
mission to Lord WeUesley. 283,
Sindia ( Mahdaji), his wars with the
English, 236, ic. ; his support
of Shah Alam, 258, &c.
Sindia (son of Jankaji), his flight
from Gwalior duringthe mutiny,
372.
Singapore, cession of, 301.
Sirhind, Sikh invasion of, 155.
Sitabaldi, battle of, 298.
Sitana. campaign of, 382, 383,
Sivaji (son of Shahji Bhosla), con-
quests in the Kankan — defeat
and murder of Afzul Kh:m. 138 ;
naval exploits, 139 ; sack of Bar-
salor, 140 ; crowned at Raigarh
—his death, 143.
Slavery abolished in India, 328,
Sleeman (Col.) appointed Re.sident
at Gwalior, 328 ; transferred to
Lucknow, 344,
" Star of India," institution of
the, 381.
Sobraon, battle of, 332.
Somnath, early capture and plun-
der of, by Mahmud, 49.
Sonpat, battle of, 113.
Suraj-ud-daula, Subadarof Beng.al
— lays siege to Calcutta, 190 ;
defeated at Plassy — his capture
and death, 197.
Surat invaded by the Persians. 43 ;
first opened to English trade,
127 ; constituted a presidency,
134.
Taj Mahal, the, at Agra, 53, 132.
Talikdt, battle of, rout of the
Hindus. 91.
Tanjdr placed under English rule,
181.
Tantia Topi heads the rebellion in
Central India, 371 ; defeated by
Sir Hugh Rose, 371 ; capture and
execution of, 375, 376.
Thaggi finally suppressed by
Gen. Sleeman, 309, 310.
Tippu Sahib invades Travankor,
254 ; defeated at Arikera, 255 ;
captures Koimbator — treats for
terms with Lord ComwaUis,
256 ; defeated at llalavalli by
Gen. Harris — his death, 270,
273.
Timiir (Tamerlane), his invasion
of Hindustan, 74 j massacres in
DehU, ic, 74.
Todar Mai governs Bengal, 117;
settles the land revenue under
Akbar, 117, 118.
Toghlak I. (see Ghiyas-ud-din).
ToghlakU.(MohammadToghl.ak),
reign of, ii6 ; unsuccessful in-
vasion of China, 67 ; massacres
ordered at Kanauj — rebuild-
ing of Daulatabad, 68 ; revolts
in Gujarat and elsewhere, 69.
Travankor placed imder English
rule, 287.
Trichinopoly, siege of, 188, A-c. ;
siege of — successes of the
French, 190.
Trincomalee, fall of, 242.
Uzbeks, revolt of the — suppressed
by Akbar, 109.
VansAgnew (ilr.), murder of, 335.
Vellor, mutiny of Sepoy regiments
I at, 289.
414
INDEX.
Village communities in India, 10,
2ti3.
"Wade, Colonel, his successful ad-
vance through the Khaibar, Sill.
Wighirs, rising of the, in Katiawar,
and suppression, 384.
Wandiwash, gallant defence and
relief of, 24 1 .
Wellesley (Marquis), Governor-
General of India, his home
policy, 279 ; subdues the M,i-
rathas, 283, &c. ; his retirement
and illiberal treatment, 278,
279, 280.
Wellesley (General), his first suc-
cesses, 277 j captures Ahmad-
nagar— routs the Mnrithaa at
Assai and Argaum, 281.
Wild (Colonel), his repulse in the
Khaibar Pa.ss, 319.
Wheeler (Sir Hugh), defence of
Cawnpore against the Sepoy
mutineers, 358, 360.
Worgaom, annulment of the dis-
graceful treaty of, 23fi.
Tavans in India, 27 ; in Orissa.
89.
Zamindari, land settlement made
permanent, 263.
Zamindars, rise of the Bengal, 262.
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